Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to get more CCTV cameras

More CCTV cameras are to be installed at Shropshire's largest hospital to improve security.

The extra cameras at the Royal Shrewsbury will mean that CCTV coverage at the site is comparable to that of Telford's Princess Royal. Earlier this year the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust agreed to spend £74,000 on expanding and improving its CCTV facilities.

This will include the centralised monitoring of cameras by licensed security staff.

The trust's annual security report also gives examples of how CCTV footage from the two hospitals was used to successfully prosecute offenders.

Following a "violent outburst" in the Royal Shrewsbury A&E department, a man was subsequently found guilty at Shrewsbury magistrates court of common assault on two nurses, and of using threatening words and behaviour towards a hospital security officer.

The defendant was ordered to carry out more than 450 hours unpaid work/community service and pay compensation to each victim.

He was also ordered to pay £775 court costs and incurred "very considerable financial hardship" from his defence costs.

"CCTV footage of the incident was key to his prosecution," says the report.

On November 4 last year, a Poppy Appeal charity collection box containing a "significant sum" of money was stolen from the League of Friends shop at the Princess Royal Hospital.

"The perpetrator of this (distraction) crime was identified from trust CCTV images," says the report.

"He was subsequently arrested and admitted to the theft and a series of other thefts in the local area."

The man was jailed for eight months.

The report says that the trust assisted the police on 17 occasions last year.

It adds that the board is committed to making the trust a safe and secure place in which to work and receive treatment.

"It is simply not acceptable for standards of patient care to be diminished by the actions of an irresponsible and anti-social minority," says the report.

During the year there were 167 "intentional" acts of violence or aggression towards staff. These included 23 physical attacks.

The National Audit Office estimates the cost of violence against NHS staff to be at least £69 million per annum.

By Health Correspondent Dave Morris