Meet the security staff protecting patients, staff and visitors at local hospitals

NO SUCH THING AS TYPICAL DAY FOR NHS SECURITY

- By DEBORAH HALL

Rob is a security officer at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby

WHEN you don an NHS Security uniform you never know what you are going to be dealing with next. One minute you could be answering a parking permit query and the next you are saving a life.

You are no sooner back at the office when you get a call to say there is an issue with antisocial behaviour and then you are rushing to the aid of frightened staff on a ward, where a patient has become violent, and they need your assistance in keeping everyone safe.

And that is all in the space of one shift, with little time to pause or reflect on what you have just dealt with before the next call comes in.

In the control room, you will likely be dealing with queries from the public, monitoring CCTV or pulling CCTV footage to hand to the police as evidence. The only thing you can be sure of is that you will be busy from the moment you walk through the door.

NHS Humber Health Partnership has provided insight into life on the front line protecting patients, staff and visitors across the region’s hospitals, as it looks at the work of some its security officers.

A 'typical' day

You do not need to spend long talking to NHS Security teams before you know that there is not really such a thing as a typical day. Yes, they have day-to-day tasks, such as monitoring CCTV, patrolling sites, providing a reassuring presence and calling into wards and departments to check everything is okay.

But when issues arise, they are the first port of call - particularly if someone has become violent and, sadly, if weapons are involved.

The teams in both Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said they had had to deal with people with knives, needles and even what staff had feared was a gun but turned out to be a high-powered and very realistic looking air gun.