It is acknowledged that a small minority of patients may become abusive or violent towards staff making it difficult for the healthcare team to provide services. This organisation has zero tolerance towards such behaviour and is committed to reducing the risk to staff and other patients resulting from such behaviour.
Inappropriate behaviour is defined as being unacceptable if:
- It is unwanted by the recipient
- It has the purpose or effect of violating the recipient’s dignity and/or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment
Inappropriate behaviour does not have to be face-to-face and may take other forms including written, telephone or e-mail communications or through social media.
What constitutes inappropriate or unreasonable behaviour could be viewed as a subjective matter. Therefore, to ensure objectivity and prior to any further actions being taken, incidents of inappropriate behaviour will be discussed with a member of the senior management team.