Freedom of Information request Violence and Aggression Towards NHS Staff

Dear Freedom of Information Officer, Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I hereby request the information set out from your Trust. I am conducting research into the prevalence of violence and aggression (V&A) towards all levels of NHS staff and researching the increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. Please provide the information for the time periods specified unless otherwise stated. Definition / scope: For clarity, by “violence and aggression” I mean incidents reported as directed against staff (including physical assault, verbal threats/abuse, threatening behaviour, sexual assault, hate incidents, antisocial behaviour, security etc.). Please include incidents occurring across all NHS-funded services delivered by the Trust (acute, ambulance, mental health, community, etc.). If any item cannot be provided for legal, commercial, or personal data reasons, please state the exemption relied upon. Information requested (please number responses to match) 1 - Incident / risk management system a. Which integrated incident/risk management system does the Trust currently use (e.g. Datix, Ulysses, Radar, InPhase, other)? Please give the product name and vendor. b. If more than one system is used by different services (e.g. mental health vs acute), list each system and which services use it. 2 - Violence prevention lead / security manager a. Who is the Trust’s designated Violence Prevention Lead and/or Security Manager? Please supply name and job title. b. If the Trust does not have a designated single lead, please state the department or team responsible. 3 - Contact email a. Please provide the official work email address for the person named in (2) or the generic team email for the role (e.g. security@trust.nhs.uk). b. If personal data prevents disclosure of an individual’s email address, please provide an appropriate alternative contact (team mailbox is preferable). 4 - Reporting categories a. Within your incident reporting system, what exact subcategories are used under the main “violence and aggression” (V&A) category? Please give the verbatim list of subcategory labels used (for example: “Verbal abuse”, “Physical assault”, “Threatening behaviour”, “Sexual assault”, “Hate incident”, etc.). b. If categories changed during the period below, provide the date(s) of change and both old and new category lists. 5 - Total incidents — quarterly counts For the following periods, provide the total number of reported V&A incidents against staff for each quarter (broken down by quarter). Use financial-quarter ordering where Q1 = Apr–Jun, Q2 = Jul–Sep, Q3 = Oct–Dec, Q4 = Jan–Mar. Periods required: Financial year 2020/21 (Apr 1, 2020 – Mar 31, 2021) — give counts for each quarter. Financial year 2021/22 (Apr 1, 2021 – Mar 31, 2022) — give counts for each quarter. Financial year 2022/23 (Apr 1, 2022 – Mar 31, 2023) — give counts for each quarter. Financial year 2023/24 (Apr 1, 2023 – Mar 31, 2024) — give counts for each quarter. Financial year 2024/25 (Apr 1, 2024 – Mar 31, 2025) — give counts for each quarter. Quarter 1 2025/26 (Apr 1, 2025 – Jun 30, 2025) — give count for this quarter. Possible suggested Table for (5) 2020/21 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2021/22 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2022/23 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2023/24 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2024/25 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2026-26 Q1 6 - Incident breakdown by subcategory — quarterly For the same periods as (5), provide the number of incidents by each subcategory listed in item (5) for each quarter (i.e., a table showing, for each quarter, counts for “Verbal abuse”, “Physical assault”, etc.). If exact subcategories differ between services, provide a crosswalk or note. I have included a sample table below, if additional columns are necessary, please include them: Subcategory 1 Subcategory 2 Subcategory 3 Subcategory 4 Subcategory 5 Subcategory 6 EG Physical Eg Verbal Eg Threatening EG Sexual Eg Hate EG Antisocial 2021/22 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2022/23 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2023/24 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2024/25 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2026-26 Q1 7 - Staffing numbers (total) a. What is the total current number of staff employed by the Trust? Please state whether this is headcount or Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) and give the date the figure applies to (e.g. headcount / FTE as at 31 March 2025 or as at date of FOI response). 8 - Operational / clinical staff numbers a. Of the total in (7), how many are clinical or front-line operational staff? Please define the metric used (headcount or FTE) and the date. 9 - Board minutes a. Please provide a copy of the most recent publicly available board meeting minutes (or relevant pages) in which violence, aggression, staff security incidents, or staff safety pertaining to violence and aggression were discussed. If these minutes are published online, please provide the link and the meeting date. Data format & delivery Please use the tables provided unless they are incompatible, in which case Preferred format: machine-readable (CSV or Excel). I am happy to receive multi-media response to account for the questions and then the data tables, Administrative / additional points If any element of this request is refused or withheld, please cite the specific FOIA exemption or data-protection reason and provide any available public-interest test explanation. I would be grateful for a response within 20 working days as required by the Act. If you need to clarify any part of this request or if any item is unclear, please contact me at the email address below. Thank you for your assistance. Please note I have sent this email from a personal email account from where I am doing this research in addition to my role with the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives as National Ambulance Violence Prevention Lead. Yours faithfully, Adam Hopper National Ambulance Violence Prevention & Reduction Operational Lead Association of Ambulance Chief Executives adam.a.hopper@outlook.com