[Studio25]

Couldn't they just allow the staff to defend themselves appropriately, anyway; and discharge troublesome patients?

A nurse I know had to deal with a patient trying to set the ward on fire last week. She should have been able to just get the porters to take him to the front door and leave him there. A few weeks earlier, it had been a patient brandishing a fire extinguisher. Shame they didn't get aggressive on the same night...

Although there are signs all over the hospitals preaching zero tolerance to violence against staff, the reality is that patients are assumed to be "too ill" to be responsible for their actions. Staff have little or no support.

Tasers aren't a good idea, with all that oxygen in the wards. Apparently, they'd get a uniform, truncheon and handcuffs, though. My nursey friend rather likes the idea...