Caring for the carers

Healthcare is among the most hazardous and risk-prone working environments.

According to the British Medical Association, UK healthcare workers face significant risks including high levels of work-related stress and burnout, with 42 per cent of staff reporting feeling unwell from work-related stress in 2023. Physical violence is another major risk, as nearly 15 per cent of NHS staff experienced it from patients, relatives, or the public in the past year. The objective for facilities managers is clear: we must create a proactive, multi-faceted safety strategy that addresses healthcare facilities’ environment and culture. Below I offer three working solutions with the capability to significantly lower risks:

FORTIFY PHYSICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS

Most healthcare safety risks are brought about by the built environment or physical insecurity. Minor design modifications and protection provisions within facilities can significantly reduce the exposure of employees to threatening scenarios.

Secure design: Doors should be locked and hardened, and there should be unobstructed sightlines in high-risk areas such as emergency rooms and psychiatric units in a bid to reduce ambush threat.

Alarm & communications facilities: Panic and duress alarm buttons mounted in patient rooms, corridors, and staff areas (preferably voice-operated or wrist-worn) enable staff to alert for help at short notice.

Lighting, signage, and layout: Well-lit corridors, mirrors at blind corners, non-slip floor coverings, and clearly signposted exits all serve to eliminate accidents and boost confidence among staff.

Maintenance and security staff must be trained to detect and rectify risks in advance, from poor flooring to faulty locks.

INCREASE INCIDENT REPORTING, MONITORING & ANALYTICS

Near-misses and low-severity incidents must all be reported, so health system leaders detect trends. FMs can help encourage a shift from a reactive to preventative safety management by enhancing reporting and data systems.

Effective incident reporting systems: Encourage staff to report any safety concern, from low-level aggression right up to environmental hazard, within a system that maintains confidentiality and no-blame culture.

Leading indicator dashboards: Precursors such as absence due to stress spikes or violent incident patterns by time of day should be tracked by facilities in conjunction with injury reporting.

Predictive analytics: By incorporating staffing levels, patient mix and shift of day, predictive models can locate “hot zones” or periods when risk is heightened. This enables anticipatory resourcing, for example, expending security visibility or phased shift rotations.

These solutions enable resources to be utilised efficiently; channeling training, personal protective equipment and security personnel where they are most required.

ROLL OUT PERSONAL SAFETY TOOLS & NETWORKED RESPONSE

While environmental design and sound reporting can benefit the system as a whole, frontline staff also require individual support systems, particularly lone workers or those based within hazardous settings.

Wearables and on-the-move alerts: Equipment and apps that provide subtle location-based calls for assistance provide employees with the means to call for help immediately.

Lone-worker tracking: For home-visit or out-patient workers, check-in arrangements during work hours ensure that if an individual is not answering, help can be dispatched in haste.

Connected safety platforms: These integrate wearable notifications, real-time monitoring, and coordinated response so incidents can be met with rapid assistance. Such platforms, like those offered by Canopy Works, help to close the gap between incident reports and effective response.

Support arrangements: Post-incident debriefing, mental health support and rostering practices to prevent fatigue are just as vital a provision as protective gear.

CONCLUSION

Protecting healthcare workers requires a multi-layered, coordinated solution. They should feature risk-minimising designs and robust data systems that can identify patterns and offer healthcare workers individual tools that enable them to take action. Most importantly, they require cultural and leadership acceptance.

Environment, safety, and FM leaders should strive to meet four key priorities:

• Visible leadership commitment, supported by budget and policy.
• Training and engagement of staff so solutions are accepted and used.
• Regular risk assessments and continuous examination of incident information.
• Piloting new approaches and scaling up where it is demonstrated that they make a difference.

The most important benefit of taking this proactive approach is that it helps care for those who care for us and is the foundation on which resilient high-quality healthcare can be built.