VIOLENCE and aggressive incidents are on the rise at Herefordshire's hospitals.

Wye Valley NHS Trust now has CCTV linked to the police station and body-worn cameras are being worn by some staff, trust board papers from a recent meeting reveal, while the trust is working with police and other partner organisations on ways to reduce the levels of violence and aggression.

Minutes from the board's March meeting said managing director Jane Ives had drawn a link between the number of violent and aggressive incidents and the long waits patients are experiencing, which was said to be causing "fear and frustration".

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"Although this does not excuse this type of behaviour," the minutes said, "if we reduce these pressures, this will also have an impact on violence and aggression".

NHS data shows that there were a total of 7,450 accident and emergency attendances in Hereford in March, as well as 156 booked appointments.

Of those, 2,580 attendances lasted over four hours, while 44 booked appointments took over four hours.

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There were some lengthy waits for patients to be admitted, too, with 429 patients waiting more than four hours for a bed after the decision was made to admit them, and 247 waiting more than 12 hours. 

A total of 2,104 emergency admissions were made via the trust's Type 1 accident and emergency department that month, with 693 other emergency admissions.

The board papers said chair Russell Hardy had reiterated the trust's zero-tolerance policy towards violence and aggression.

"It is wholly unacceptable for any member of staff to suffer any abuse and we will take all steps that we can to hold them to account," Mr Hardy said.