The RCN has stated that violence against staff who work in prison should be seen as being unacceptable in every instance. Those who have experience in a nursing recruitment agency will know how much staff face in situations like this.

The comments were made in response to brand new research that has repeatedly shown that more than a quarter of staff who have worked in a prison have actually been the victim of violence. Brian Morton is the RCN National Officer and he has come out and stated that assaults are now much more of a routine experience and that a lot of people who work in prisons are having to face situations like this every single year. Poor reporting mechanisms can be to blame because people are not investigating the cases properly and this can lead to hopelessness and even helplessness too. The research also reviewed the impact and even the exposure of substances. This includes spice. Over half of staff have stated that they have been exposed in the past and a third of them have stated that they have become ill as a result. Brian has added that drug use right now is poisoning the atmosphere and that some staff are even being forced to carry out some of their duties under the effect. This is a new low and it just goes to show how hard nurses in a nurse jobs work and the awful conditions that they are having to operate under. This is not right to say the least, and more needs to be done about this. If nothing is done then staff will start to leave the sector and with staff being under so much pressure right now, it’s safe to say that this is not good enough.