West of England Health Cresheds
BBCNurses have been attacked amidst violent behavior problems in a hospital’s children’s unit and “face punched”, employees have told the BBC.
Since April, nurses at the Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon say that a series of distressed teenagers attacked nurses, hit another child and misused many young patients and their families verbally.
Other incidents include a patient who “ripped the TV” from a wall and broke a sink. Many employees are now taking sick leave.
A GWH spokesperson said: “Our children’s wards are often the only available place available for weak children and young people, which are with complex medical and mental health requirements until the age of 18 years.”
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Close the rivaraside Adolescent mental health unit as “temporary measures” in February 2024.
But its continuous closure means that GWH is the best performance to cope with adolescents who are creating a state of psychiatry.
The unit provides care to children up to the age of 18 and hospitals do not have a teenage mental health ward as an alternative.
Statistics obtained by the BBC suggest that there were 13 incidents in May that were related to the behavior of inters, including damaging themselves or others. There were one and seven in June.
Five employees or other patients and family members were attacked in May, and one and four in June.
‘Nothing has changed’
The BBC has spoken to several nurses of the unit, who say that the work of 15 members of employees has stopped work due to violence.
He said that a nurse who stays away from work was seriously injured after attacking two years ago and has faced it anytime since hearing loss and PTSD.
The nurse all want to be anonymous.
One said: “We keep saying what it is going to take? Still nothing has changed.
“Is it going to take a child to hurt. Then we were hurt by a child in the ward.”
The nurse said that the data is likely to be less than the actual number as employees find it difficult to find time to report them.
The nurse told how he felt that some incidents were not being dealt with seriously.
“It is often kept for us that these children are unwell, so in the case of reporting to the police, we feel that we are doing wrong against the child.
“We are a safe ward and people have to discuss inside and outside.
“These are such restrictions and some mental health patients have to remove a hoodie as a hoodie, because they do not like because we are preventing them from hurting ourselves.
“The biggest problem is that we go up to 18. Most of the children go to ward 16. It almost seems that people are afraid because they are children.”
‘Put the face’
Another nurse said: “A lot of children are medical fit to go home. Nobody wants to take them because of their behavior.
“It has a lot of holes in the walls, damaged pipes and lots of employees being punched on the face.”
The nurse described how four registered mental health nurses were unable to stop a teenage girl, who was also doing the verbally misbehaving employees.
“It is having a huge impact on patients and parents.”
He said: “One of my colleagues became ill because this girl was breaking her head against the wall. Registered mental health nurses were just watching.
The nurse stated that he has “the evaluation unit for assessing children” which was then closed. It has left the hospital unit to deal with these cases.
The nurse said, “A teenager was ripping the TV from the wall, he broke a sink. The entire wall has to be replaced … probably at least 15 employees being ill,” the nurse said.
The nurse said that the managers had done much less to address the situation besides presenting a ‘safe room’ that has not yet been opened.
Another nurse said: “We had a young man who was with us because he had taken an overdose and his behavior increased to the point that he was being seen by three registered mental health agency nurses.
“His behavior increased and he attacked nurses and security staff. He punished many people.”
One NHS report In 2024, the difficulties of nursing teenagers were highlighted on hospital wards with young children.
The South West Director of the Royal College of Nursing, Susan Masters said that this is a national problem, saying: “This trust (GWH) is a local provision. There is no more provision for these youth to go somewhere else, which is why it is very difficult here.
“Children with physical health difficulties, youth with diseases and processes require a bright, disturbing fun environment.
“Children and youth with mental health crisis need to be pacified opposite.
“So currently these children are being taken care of in an acute unit with children’s nurses, who are not necessarily trained in expert mental health services.”
A statement by the GWH Trust states: “We have individual rooms that provide privacy and division between age groups with two dedicated rooms for patients who experience a mental health crisis.
“Many children and youth whom we care for the need for special care and we are planning to recruit experts mental health nurses to expertly expertly support children and youth with serious mental health requirements.
“It is unacceptable that NHS employees face violence and misuse and we can all to protect our employees, patients and visitors.
“This is a national issue, although these incidents can be extremely upset, and we provide a package of mental health aid to our employees, including de-brefing sessions and counseling services.
“Our Never OK campaign, in partnership with the Wiltshire police, encourages employees to report all events and the police regularly visit the hospital and support our own security team.”
