Drunken people admitted to hospital and those who attack and abuse NHS staff could face being banned from pubs and clubs under a new scheme in North Wales.
This scheme will be extended to Wrexham after success in Gwynedd and Anglesey.
Grace Lewis Parry, the health board’s director which lead responsibility for tackling violence and aggression, said: “Any aggression behaviour towards NHS staff carrying out their duties, whether in the community, on ambulances or in any properties that they work in, can be reported through to the Pubwatch groups.”
She continues, “A couple of banning orders have already been issued in north west Wales. But the success of the scheme isn’t about taking action against offenders, it’s about encouraging people to behave in the right way and deer them from being abusive or violent towards our staff who, after all, are there to help and treat them.”
According to BBC Wales Investigations, an average of 7,500 reported violent incidents a year on hospital staff and paramedics in Wales, including 50 assaults involving weapons.
This will clearly encourage people to behave well on a night out, leading to the reduction of violence. But the question here is; will this mean more people will now feel safe to go out, without having to be concerned about violence in town?
Another question that can be raised is whether this would also have positive impacts for pubs, as well as for pubgoers. Will pubs in North Wales attract more people, leading to the improvement of the pub industry and, to a great financial boost to economy in the area?
This is very interesting, as the pub and the leisure industry has been going through tough times, facing huge financial strain, since the Government’s decision to increase a ‘damaging’ 7.2 per cent increase in beer tax. According to Brigid Simmonds, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, the average cost of a pint of beer has now broken the £3 barrier. Mr Simmonds said “This will cost 10,000 jobs in 2011 and see many more pubs to close”. Christine Carruthers, landlady of the Plough in Denbighsaid:” It is just killing the industry, people will not spend when it is so cheap to buy in shops.”
Is it fair to say here, if the damage from the increase in beer tax can be neutralised by those possible impacts generated from the new scheme to protect NHS, the massive job losses and pub closures can be avoided in North Wales, to say the least? We will keep an eye on this.
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Normally I don’t read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do so! Thanks, very great article.
We’re glad you found the article useful Lisa 🙂