Zarah ChoudharyOne in seven (14%) NHS staff have experienced unwanted and intrusive filming or photography by members of the public in the past year alone, UNISON’s research suggested.
Incidents have left staff feeling unsettled, intimidated, fearful and vulnerable as they go about their jobs.
Experiences have included people using their phones to film health workers on duty or giving emergency care as they treat patients for cardiac arrests, with the footage then being livestreamed or put on short-form video platforms such as TikTok.
Phone cameras are also being used as the digital equivalent of ‘rubbernecking’, said UNISON, with one member of the public brazenly filming a victim of a car accident with serious injuries despite pleas from staff to stop.
The culprit was escorted from the scene by police.
NHS workers said phones, webcams and other hidden devices are being commonly used, often accompanied by threats to intimidate staff or as a bargaining tool to attempt to get medication prescribed.
Incidents are occurring in hospitals, patients’ homes and even during medical consultations, with the footage being live streamed to relatives who sometimes interrupt and disagree with diagnoses being given by clinical staff.
Respondents have made clear that when asked to stop, some people have become confrontational, refused to delete footage or used the threat of posting to social media to make unsavoury demands of health workers.
One member of staff said: “Patients think they can get their own way (and make you do things you don’t have to) by getting a phone out and filming just to intimidate you.”
Another commented: “Patients use their phones constantly, regardless of any notices in the area asking them not to.
“They video the department, altercations and anything out of the ordinary. They film nurses they don’t agree with, and shout at them demanding their names. It’s out of control.
“I work in the emergency department and urgent care centre and patients’ behaviour is getting worse.”
The incidents form part of a wider pattern of harassment, abuse and violence against NHS staff by patients, their families, hospital visitors and members of the public, UNISON’s research found.
The union surveyed more than 14,000 health workers about their experiences in the past year, with 19% reporting they’d been subject to violence as they went about their jobs.
Four in 10 (41%) of those who had been attacked reported a punch being thrown, with kicks (35%), slaps (27%) and spitting (36%) also relatively common.
Christina McAnea, general secretary at UNISON said: “Health workers must be able to do their jobs free from harassment, unwanted and intrusive filming and associated threats of violence.
“Their work is tough enough as it is, without people shoving phones in their faces and putting them under a whole new level of pressure.”
She added: “Harassing NHS workers through social media, or threatening to post material online, is completely unacceptable.
“Employers and the government must take this issue seriously, provide solid support and intervene properly, not abandon staff to tackle the online bullies themselves.
“Employers should make it clear that filming staff at work without consent is harassment and that they will come down hard on anyone who indulges in this kind of threatening anti-social behaviour.”
