Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise

Health and safetyOccupational HealthMental healthWellbeing

Assaults by patients on mental health staff are soaring

by Nic Paton 2 Nov 2017
by Nic Paton 2 Nov 2017

Mental health staff in the UK are working in a “powder keg” environment, as assaults by patients soar, an investigation by the BBC concluded in October.

Figures obtained by the programme 5 Live Investigates revealed there were more than 42,000 reported attacks on staff in 2016-17 in the mental health trusts who responded.

The figure was more than a quarter higher than for the corresponding trusts four years earlier, the BBC added.

Nearly two-thirds of UK mental health trusts provided data under a Freedom of Information request, which revealed assaults increased from 33,620 in 2012-13 to 42,692 last year. This included a healthcare assistant who was stabbed to death and a worker who had part of their thumb bitten off.

Separate BBC Freedom of Information request figures have revealed the number of NHS mental health staff who have taken sick leave because of their own mental health issues has risen by 22% in the past five years. Those taking long-term leave of a month or more rose from 7,580 in 2012-13 to 9,285 in 2016-17, it found.

The figures have come as the Centre for Mental Health has called for a “radical reform” of mental health services, amid a “shrinking workforce, growing expectations and exhausting demands” all putting staff under intense pressure.

More widely, latest figures from NHS Digital have shown that NHS staff sickness absence remained the same in May 2017 as in May 2016, at 3.84%. This was lower than in May 2015, when the rate stood at 3.90%.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Nevertheless, the Royal College of Nursing has urged hospitals and healthcare providers to examine whether they have enough staff to deliver safe patient care this winter.

A survey of more than 30,000 members painted a picture of staff stretched to the limit and compromised patient care, with colleagues burning out and becoming sick themselves, it argued.

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Occupational Health research round-up: November 2017
next post
Sleep-in payback scheme described as “suicide note” for social care employers

You may also like

Four-day working week trial in Scotland’s public sector...

29 Aug 2025

MoD worker loses harassment claim over lack of...

27 Aug 2025

Café worker awarded £22k after being too cold...

26 Aug 2025

Workers need more protection from heatwaves, says WHO

22 Aug 2025

What will new workplace heat guidance mean for...

22 Aug 2025

Employee Benefits Live 2025 conference programme unveiled

21 Aug 2025

Violence against A&E staff has doubled, warns RCN

12 Aug 2025

Reform fit notes to recover falling over-50s employment

11 Aug 2025

‘Knowledge gap’ fuelling stress about workers’ finances

6 Aug 2025

HR leaders back idea of wellbeing tax break

5 Aug 2025

  • Work smart – stay well: Avoid unnecessary pain with centred ergonomics SPONSORED | If you often notice...Read more
  • Elevate your L&D strategy at the World of Learning 2025 SPONSORED | This October...Read more
  • How to employ a global workforce from the UK (webinar) WEBINAR | With an unpredictable...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Recruitment & retention
    • Wellbeing
    • Occupational Health
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise