Nurses should be given body cameras to prevent assaults by violent patients, a conference heard.
Increasing levels of violence in A&E and on hospital wards meant staff needed better protection, nurses told the Royal College of Nursing Congress on Monday.
They revealed how they had been attacked and even held hostage by patients who turned violent. But some nurses condemned the suggestion, saying cameras would erode patient trust and invade their privacy.
Proposing the introduction of cameras, nurse Sarah Seeley, from Ipswich, said: “[Nurses are] being strangled, stabbed, headbutted, punched, kicked, spat at, slapped, bitten and even having their eyes gouged.”
She said a number of NHS trusts, including her own, had recently introduced bodycams for security staff. Trials had found a reduction of up to 100 per cent in violent incidents and restraints being carried out on patients.
