iblog

Panorama last night was enough to put anyone off being a doctor. It dealt with the issue of violence against NHS doctors and nurses, primarily in the A and E departments and made disturbing viewing. Some hospitals seem like war zones and that is not just on a Friday night after the pubs turn out. Edinburgh Royal Infirmary has a permanent police presence, so great is the problem. There are 75000 cases of violence a year and that is just the number reported. Although there is meant to be zero tolerance of such crimes, few cases are prosecuted and those that are, end up with derisory outcomes such as suspended sentences and £50 fines. At the end of the day doctors and nurses are human beings like the rest of us and it says much about their dedication and self control that they don’t hit back and refuse to treat the thugs who are out to injure and maim them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 10:15 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.