SIR 鈥� I鈥檇 like to comment on an article that appeared in a recent edition of Nursing Times (鈥楴HS staff to police their own wards鈥�) and the Editorial Leader in the same edition, which stated: 鈥淚t is the responsibility of employers to ensure the safety of their staff. Encouraging nurses to work as unpaid security guards smacks of a cheap solution to a fundamentally important problem.鈥�

To begin, think about the term constabularisation, which occurs 鈥榳hen a security presence is displaced (either temporarily or permanently) by a policing presence in response to an increased threat that renders the protective capability of the incumbent security presence ineffective鈥�. My own definition.

An example of appropriate constabularisation was the establishment of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary back in the 1950s, and its subsequent evolution through the 1970s and 1980s into a highly trained and routinely armed service capable of providing an effective response to modern day threats.

By contrast, a classic example of inappropriate constabularisation is the latest proposal by Merseyside Constabulary to recruit and deploy off-duty nurses as Special Constables for the purpose of policing their own hospitals. According to the Nursing Times News item, those Special Constables would be supervised by a retired police officer.

As is often the case in clinical practice, it鈥檚 the attempted solution to the perceived problem (rather than the true problem) that causes the most harm. Nursing is concerned with meeting the health needs of the individual patient, whereas policing is focused on the immediate maintenance of good order and the detection and/or prevention of offences. Thus for the nurse/Special Constable, a conflict of interest 鈥� and a conflict with the code of professional conduct observed by the nursing profession 鈥� is somewhat inevitable.

In my view, the correct solution to enhancing security in hospitals is the deployment of sufficient numbers of trained healthcare security personnel throughout the National Health Service. They can work with the nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide an effective security presence. One that will allow nurses to undertake the role for which they鈥檝e been trained.

Nursing stands as an example of the professional status to which many within security (myself included) aspire. In other words, a profession in its own right and not one supplementary to policing.

As a nurse, I neither want nor need a retired policeman as my 鈥楧utch Uncle鈥�!

Malcolm Cheshire, Executive Principal, The Arkwood Centre

Source

SMT