Nurses have been assaulted and “punched in the face” amid violent behavioural problems at a hospital’s children’s unit, staff have told the BBC. Since April, nurses at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon say a series of troubled teenagers have assaulted nurses, hit another child and verbally abused very young patients and their families. Other incidents have included a patient who “ripped a TV” from a wall and broke a sink. Numerous staff are now taking sick leave.
A spokesperson for the GWH said the children’s ward is often the only place available locally for vulnerable children and young people up to the age of 18 with complex medical and mental health needs. The unit provides care to children up to the age of 18 and the hospital does not have an adolescent mental health ward as an alternative.
Statistics show that in May there were 13 incidents relating to the behaviour of inpatients that involved harming themselves or others. There were another seven in June. Five staff or other patients and family members were assaulted in May, and another four in June.
Nurses from the unit say up to 15 members of staff have been off work because of violence. They said one nurse who remains off work was left seriously injured after being assaulted two years ago and has suffered ever since with hearing loss and PTSD.
The nurses all want to remain anonymous. One said: “We kept saying what is it going to take? Still nothing has changed. Is it going to take for a child to get hurt. We then had a child hurt on the ward.”
Another nurse said: “A lot of children are medically fit to go home. No one wants to take them because of their escalating behaviour. It has caused a lot of holes in walls, damaged pipes and lots of staff being hit with people being punched in face.”
The nurse went on to describe how four registered mental health nurses were unable to restrain one teenage girl who was also verbally abusing staff. “It is having a massive impact on patients and parents.”
One teenager was ripping TVs off the wall, she broke a sink. The whole wall has had to be replaced it has led to probably at least 15 staff being off sick.
The nurse said that managers had done very little to address the situation apart from introducing a ‘safe room’ which has not been opened yet.
An NHS report in 2024 highlighted the difficulties of nursing teenagers on hospital wards alongside younger children. The South West director of the Royal College of Nursing, Susan Masters, said it is a national problem, adding: “This trust is the local provision. There isn’t another provision anywhere else for these young people to go which is why its very difficult here.”
A statement from GWH trust said: “We have individual rooms providing privacy and division between age groups, alongside two dedicated rooms for patients experiencing a mental health crisis. Many of the children and young people we care for need specialised care and we are planning to recruit specialist mental health nurses so that we have the expertise to better support children and young people with severe mental health needs.
It’s unacceptable that NHS staff face violence and abuse and we do all we can to keep our staff, patients and visitors safe. This is a national issue, however these incidents can be extremely distressing, and we offer a package of mental health support to our staff, which includes de-briefing sessions and counselling services.
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