Record numbers prosecuted for attacking Welsh NHS staff

[markomalley]

From Wales Online:

A RECORD number of people have been prosecuted and punished for attacking NHS staff, new figures reveal.

More than 400 cases of assault and abuse by patients, relatives and  hospital visitors were passed to the police in Wales last year as the  NHS continues its crackdown on such violence.

The number of reported incidents of violence and aggression also fell slightly last year to just under 7,500 from more than 8,000. Almost a quarter of these were “gratuitous” attacks on NHS staff at accident and emergency departments.

In fairness, the story did not indicate any reason for the violent outbreaks against staff.

In related news: Prime Minister under fire after waiting lists for NHS tests soar, NHS Trusts Found Guilty of Ignoring NICE Guidelines .

I can hardly wait until our healthcare system is just like Britain’s.

(Oh, as a disclaimer, I am not being facetious at all. The bloated oligarchy that is the current system of large, centralized, bureaucratic insurance-driven healthcare is going to be replaced by Obamacare…and there’s nothing that will stop it at this juncture. Since this is now an unstoppable train, I actually look forward to the complete overload of the dirigisme set up through Obamacare, which will, in turn, be forced to be converted to a single payer system, which, in turn, will cause the government to collapse under a mountain of debt. That’s the only way I see for our health care system to return to one that follows the principles of authentic Catholic social teaching).

 

[Kaninchen]

From Wales Online:

A RECORD number of people have been prosecuted and punished for attacking NHS staff, new figures reveal.

More than 400 cases of assault and abuse by patients, relatives and  hospital visitors were passed to the police in Wales last year as the  NHS continues its crackdown on such violence.

The number of reported incidents of violence and aggression also fell slightly last year to just under 7,500 from more than 8,000. Almost a quarter of these were “gratuitous” attacks on NHS staff at accident and emergency departments.

In fairness, the story did not indicate any reason for the violent outbreaks against staff.

It’s the frustrated masses groaning under the Stalinist imposition of the NHS, or, on the other hand it’s the well-known pheonomenon of injured drunks brought in by their drunken mates on Friday and Saturday night.

I can hardly wait until our healthcare system is just like Britain’s.

Everybody else would feel the same way if they were threatened by a healthcare system just like that of the US, so that’s only fair I suppose.

 

[Dale_M]

Heathcare can be a dangerous field to work in. In the US, over half of workplace attacks occur against health care employees.
bls.gov/opub/cwc/sh20100825ar01p1.htm

Its particularly bad in the emergency room, where people become tired of waiting or feel they aren’t getting the care they need.

 

[kingal86]

I resent what the OP seems to be implying, i.e. that there is somehow a direct link between our (i.e. the British) taxpayer-funded universal healthcare system and violence against Welsh NHS employees, or that this news story has any particular relevance to the US health care debate - although I guess to be fair, the waiting list stories are relevant (although the US health care system rations as well, with insurance companies in effect doing the rationing rather than the state).

Is there never any drunks etc. assaulting US healthcare employees then?

 

[markomalley]

I resent what the OP seems to be implying, i.e. that there is somehow a direct link between our (i.e. the British) taxpayer-funded universal healthcare system and violence against Welsh NHS employees, or that this news story has any particular relevance to the US health care debate - although I guess to be fair, the waiting list stories are relevant (although the US health care system rations as well, with insurance companies in effect doing the rationing rather than the state).

Is there never any drunks etc. assaulting US healthcare employees then?

Are you implying that all Welshmen are drunkards?

I did not see anything in the article that mentioned that any of the attackers were drunk, much less all of them, as you appear to imply. So are drunk Welshmen so common that it is a given that need not be mentioned in a news article?

I find it funny that the British press (with the exception of the Red Guardian) seem to be full of horror stories about the NHS. I can pull multiple articles about multiple subjects virtually every day.

A few more examples (again, just within the past 24 hours):

Older people receive worse NHS cancer care
GPC will not rule out industrial action to stop Health Bill
GPs Blame NHS Reforms For Retirement Plans

I have read previously that the cuts discussed above are because the NHS costs are utterly unsustainable. Well, if more than half of your GP’s retire because of the cuts, then where are you going to get more doctors? If health workers go on strike, who is going to care for the sick?

I am looking forward to this in our country, as well.

 

[Kaninchen]

The thing is that saying ‘world of their own’ isn’t just a eye-rolling observation, it also happens to be a kind of reality.

What is a bit weird is that they don’t seem to notice that, while everybody, everywhere moans about their own health systems, the one thing that nobody else wants is the American health system.

 

[kingal86]

What is a bit weird is that they don’t seem to notice that, while everybody, everywhere moans about their own health systems, the one thing that nobody else wants is the American health system.

Though I’ve heard of worse places, where you don’t even get emergency treatment without a means of payment (if what I’ve heard is correct, ER in America has too treat you, although you get the massive bill afterwards…)

 

[kingal86]

Are you implying that all Welshmen are drunkards?

I did not see anything in the article that mentioned that any of the attackers were drunk, much less all of them, as you appear to imply. So are drunk Welshmen so common that it is a given that need not be mentioned in a news article?

I don’t see anything in my post implying the Welsh are drunkards. I was merely following on from the suggestion by another poster, and I put “drunks, etc.” assaulting medical staff.

It is just a well-known fact of modern British culture that a lot of assaults on medical staff, police etc. are committed by binge-drinkers and others who have drunk too much, especially on Friday and Saturday nights (there are unfortunately whole TV programmes following the emergency services around as they try to deal with them).

 

[LemonAndLime]

Did I hear someone criticising the NHS using a very tenuous link between the NHS in general and the story at hand, and then compare it to the USA system?

Do you have any more questions/comments markomalley? I don’t want to lose my place in the line behind Jharek and co. :stretcher: