1. How many patients are listed by your hospital as barred from entering or attending your A&E (ED) Department for urgent or emergency care?

None

2. What procedure is used to risk assess barred patient to determine whether they should continue to be barred?

Every case is reviewed on its own merit, and is based on violent or aggressive behaviour on our sites. Every incident is investigated by the Head of Security who is an NHS Local Security Management Specialist (LSMS). They may liaise with the Metropolitan Police and will review our incident reporting system for any other incidents that an individual has been involved in, as well as meeting with/interviewing witnesses to be able to complete an investigation, and advise accordingly on the best way to proceed with an individual.

Anyone who has a flag raised for such behaviour or for exclusion will have their case discussed with the clinical lead for the area where the incident happened; at which point a period for the marker to be active will be confirmed (usually 3-6 months). On one month from completion, the LSMS will review the Trust incident reporting system for any further incidents involving the individual, if none have been noted, and then the flag will be removed.

3. Please provide a copy of your procedure for the risk assessment of barred patients.

All risk assessments for the decision to exclude are dynamic, incorporating all details of a specific case and the circumstances therein. But as we do not ban patients from our Emergency Department, we cannot provide a risk assessment for such a “barred” patient group

Please note: Banning/Barring are relatively generic terms used within the NHS; to exclude or refuse treatment would describe the act of refusing treatment.

We don’t ban patients from our ED; we have to allow emergency treatment and care for all attendees, even those who have been flagged with a ‘Red Card’. An active marker (or Red Card) will confirm if an individual has certain security related risks – violent or aggressive, carries knives etc. This is not always an indication of an excluded patient. The duration of the marker will depend on the circumstance and will be reviewed within a set period (normally 6 months). Should a patient attend our ED in this time period, we would provide the emergency treatment. Before any decision to “exclude” someone, we would have to have a formal agreement with another primary care provider. If the patient needed inpatient (non-emergency treatment), they would be transferred to the pre agreed primary care provider.