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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

They bite, they hit, they spit: patients assault staff at Nottingham hospital

Queen’s Medical Centre A&E deputy charge nurse Hanna Freer
Queen’s Medical Centre A&E deputy charge nurse Hanna Freer. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

“I’ve seen patients take swings at doctors because they’re not happy with the time it’s taken or the doctor’s diagnosis. I’ve seen fire extinguishers set off and thrown at people, computers lifted and thrown across the emergency department and people run out of cubicles and punch other patients – people they don’t know – for no reason.”

Roger Webb, a security supervisor at the Queen’s Medical Centre hospital in Nottingham, is recalling some of the more unsavoury incidents he has witnessed in the course of his work.

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