Security staff have been employed for the first time at Harrogate District Hospital in response to a growing number of reports of aggressive and abusive behaviour.

The security officers work overnight, particularly focusing on the accident and emergency department, to offer reassurance to staff.

Speaking at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee today, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We were always reluctant to have our own security service on the hospital site because we felt we were a health service, not anything else. I know other trusts went much more quickly into having dedicated security personnel on site.

“We have in the last six months introduced, between 7pm and 7am overnight, our own security service, which is a bit of a shame that we’ve had to do that, but it was something that made the staff feel safer, particularly in the early hours with the emergency department where Harrogate has never had a problem before, but has had an increasing problem.

“I wouldn’t say it’s anything like we get lots of these incidents, it’s a handful of incidents but they don’t need to happen very often for it to be disturbing and for people to get concerned about it.”

Mr Coulter was responding to a question from Cllr Michael Schofield, who said he had read about an increase in verbal abuse from patients and visitors when they were asked to wear face masks.

Cllr Schofield, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harlow & St George’s division, added:

“I find it quite alarming that staff and volunteers have to deal with this situation.”

Mr Coulter said compliance with mask-wearing was “amazingly” high early in the pandemic and at the beginning of each lockdown, but had dropped since then and some volunteers were being verbally abused for asking people to put on masks.

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A scheme for some Harrogate district villagers to improve the security of their homes opens today.

The Protect Your Home scheme aims to prevent burglaries on the district’s border with West Yorkshire. Grants are available for new locks for doors, windows, garages and sheds as well as alarm systems for farms.

For homes with suitable WiFi coverage, the scheme also includes a RING video doorbell.

£719,590 is available in total with over 1,000 homes and 90 farms eligible. It is funded by the government and administered by the office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire.

Residents living in Harrogate district villages Hopperton, Kirk Deighton, Kirk Hammerton, Leathley, Long Marston, North Deighton, Sicklinghall, Spofforth with Stockeld can apply.

Residents will receive a registration pack through the post over the next six weeks and can sign up at www.protectyourhome.org.uk.

Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, Zoë Metcalfe, said:

“Burglary can leave people feeling vulnerable, frightened and distressed, the best way of deterring criminals from the entire community is for as many residents as possible to sign up and make their properties more secure so please sign up as soon as possible.”

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North Yorkshire County Council has set up a £15,000 fund to help councillors who have faced violent threats and abuse.

A meeting of the authority’s executive approved setting aside the money to which any of its 72 elected members will be able to apply, just weeks after Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed at a constituency surgery in Essex.

The move also follows some North Yorkshire councillors reporting death threats, abusive letters and emails, being held hostage and having their property vandalised.

Under the initiative, councillors will be able to anonymously apply to the security fund, for which there would be no investigation as to whether there is any evidential support for the councillor’s concerns.

The council’s deputy leader, Cllr Gareth Dadd, whose partner is Darlington MP Peter Gibson, told the meeting no elected representative at whatever level should feel threatened or barred from seeking public office.

He said: 

“I also believe it’s the duty of any democratic organisation to protect and to promote democracy, and to that end I welcome a fund. And that fund will apply to all members of all parties or none. Party politics is not an issue whatsoever.”

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Cllr Dadd said the fund would mean elected members who felt frightened walking down the street could be provided with low-cost measures such as panic alarms, adding: 

“More serious threats could be and have been made, so it might be home security.”

He said while the amount of funding given to councillors needed to be proportional and pragmatic, the authority should not set an upper limit on the amount of money that could be spent protecting elected members.

Cllr Dadd said: 

“Money should not be an obstacle to achieving the outcome we are seeking. 

“We have pencilled in £15,000, but I very much hope the new unitary authority will not set a limit on this because there can be no financial limit on the defence of democracy.”

Home visit concerns

Councillors also agreed to enable elected members with concerns to contact designated officers to provide information about potentially violent persons before undertaking a home visit.

However, concerns were raised over how that would work as councillors were often unaware of concerns about individuals before they arrived at a property.

Whitby cum Mulgrave division councillor and executive member David Chance said: 

“I had a situation that revolved around my support for the refugee programme and I had a number of emails and telephone calls and I simply asked that my details be removed from the council website at that time. 

“But I can see  if there are contentious issues some members may feel threatened.”

Cllr Andrew Lee’s call for the council to take a pro-active approach and offer members who may feel their concerns are too trivial a range of low-cost security measures was also approved.

The safety initiative will also promote the reporting of incidents of abuse so the council can better understand the scale of the issue and what further actions can be taken to reduce risks for councillors.