Health board looking to recruit violence and aggression advisor

NHS Shetland is currently recruiting to a new post which is designed to support staff who face violent or aggressive situations at work.

The job, which is a joint role between the Shetland and Orkney health boards, is titled violence and aggression advisor.

It would mean the health boards will be able train staff in-house rather than pay for external providers.

NHS Shetland health and safety lead Lawrence Green said the advisor would “review and develop policies and procedures that will formalise the support offered to staff when they are faced with this type of unwanted behaviour”.

Another element of the role is to “assist in the provision of information and training to enhance our staff’s ability to use a range of skills to deescalate potentially difficult situations and help calm down someone who is feeling angry/frustrated with the ultimate aim of preventing this from developing into a much worse situation”.

But Green said he is not aware of instances of violence and aggression being on the rise, and this was not the driver behind creating the Shetland-based post.

“NHS Shetland has recognised a gap in terms of not being able to conduct our own training on this subject,” he said, “and therefore rather than potentially using external training providers, it has been decided to recruit to enable more flexibility around this type of training to meet our needs.”