Designers have been given the challenge of rethinking the design of hospital Accident and Emergency departments in a bid to find innovative new ways to reduce violence and aggression towards NHS staff, which is currently estimated to cost over £69 million a year in staff absence, loss of productivity and additional security.
The year-long project, Reducing violence and aggression in A and E by design is being run by the Design Council, and has been commissioned by the Department of Health. Designers, architects, healthcare experts, patients and frontline NHS staff will all be involved, working together to develop and trial potential solutions. The Design Council is currently looking for a design team to work with A&E staff and patients at three NHS Hospital Trusts – Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. An NHS staff survey from the Care Quality Commission in 2009 revealed that 11% of staff experienced physical violence from patients or their families in the previous year. Figures from the NHS Security Management Service also show that in 2009/10 there were over 150 reported physical assaults per day on healthcare staff a total of 56,718 physical assaults in England. The problem is particularly difficult to handle in the complex, high pressure environment of A&E. The design briefs can now be viewed via the Design Council website.
