Health Business - Keeping conflict at bay

Keeping conflict at bay

Incidents of violence to NHS staff can be reduced effectively with training and support, says the Institute of Conflict Management

The Institute of Conflict Management (ICM) has been established since 1997 working with all sectors that face the problem of work related violence. During this time the ICM has been aware of the plight of workers within the NHS and agrees that it is totally unacceptable for doctors and nurses to be subjected to verbal abuse and violence whilst treating patients. But with high quality training, effective management systems and post-incident support, incidents of violence to staff can be reduced effectively. The new ICM certificated education & training Awards provide greater resources to enable the NHS to address this issue.

Minimising risk
Although incidents of aggression and violence are comparatively rare, from time-to-time, employees may be confronted by service users presenting particular management problems and challenging behaviours; a problem especially acute in hospital settings. But these can be managed effectively by putting in place the correct management systems and risk assessing job roles and deciding how this risk can then be minimised.

The National Occupational Standards on Preventing and Managing work-related Violence provide a useful framework from which to set up procedures and where necessary, adequate training to ensure the safety of their workers; from initial risk assessment to post-incident procedures.

The reporting of incidents, effective deterrents (such as tougher sentencing) and victim support all form a valuable part of an organisations overall strategy for preventing and managing work related violence. An effective strategy that also promotes an anti-work related violence culture and combines this with a logical and systematic procedure for risk assessments, reporting of incidents, post incident counselling and relevant training, and, where possible, the use of technology, can all help to reduce incidents of work related violence.

These are all issues that are highlighted time and again as effective measures with which to deal with violence and abuse to staff in the NHS, but all too often become lost in the wider priorities of an organisation, especially where budgetary constraints are an issue.

The importance of training
In acknowledging our responsibilities towards the health and safety of NHS workers and our duty of care to service users, one of the key objectives must be to receive high quality training. The training should enable all staff to recognise and manage the factors, which lead up to a person becoming aggressive and deal effectively with any untoward incidents of conflict.

In certain circumstances (where a risk assessment identifies this) it may also require the teaching of physical intervention skills, but only with careful consideration to the following values:

Physical interventions should only be used in the best interests of the service user
Service users should be treated fairly and with courtesy and respect

It is also a basic principle in the management of aggressive people that physical management techniques are only used as a last resort and that interactional skills should always form the employees core skills.

All training should be provided by suitably qualified Instructors with a capacity to teach theoretical and practical skills to work colleagues enabling them to manage challenging behaviour in a skilled, confident, non-confrontational, non-judgmental manner which is of paramount importance.

ICM support
All members of the ICM charged with the task of facilitating management of violence and aggression training are expected to maintain standards of professionalism to teach techniques correctly and help implement procedures in a professionally disciplined manner, ensuring that the imperative philosophy of duty-of-care to service users is maintained at all times.

These new ICM Awards are intended to provide a recognised standard for this type of training, which is backed up by a system of accreditation and monitoring for trainers engaged in training delivery, ensuring their continuous professional development, adherence to the ICM’s Code of Practice, and subject to desk-top audits and panel reviews. Already, the ICM has had interest from a number of NHS Trusts who are looking to use the ICM as the lead body for all matters relating to violence and aggression at work.

The ICM looks forward to working with NHS organisations by providing high-quality training to those staff on the front-line.

The ICM is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to setting standards in the prevention and management of work related violence and aggression.

For more information
For more details please call Stuart Hex on: 0116 2691049 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it website: www.conflictmanagement.org