P-05-795 Causing Nuisance or Disturbance on NHS Premises
P-05-795 Causing Nuisance or Disturbance on NHS Premises
This
petition was submitted by Claire Thomas having collected 74 signatures online.
Petition
text
S119 of the Criminal
Justice and Immigration Act 2008 created powers to deal with persons who cause
nuisance or disturbance on NHS premises. This was never enacted in Wales, and
there are no provisions to deal with persons who create problems for the NHS in
this manner.
There are numerous
individuals who cause issues whilst on NHS premises, and the police receive
many calls to deal with such behaviour, but there is no way of dealing with the
issue effectively as there is no specific offence which the police can use to
deter people who, without reasonable excuse, either cause a disturbance or
nuisance, refuse to leave the premises when asked, or is not on the premises
for the purpose of obtaining medical advice, treatment or care.
Additional
information
The cost to health
services and the police in dealing with persons who cause nuisance on NHS
premises is significant. A number of these individuals present repeatedly, and
there are no powers to deal with this. Their presence also causes distress to
others who do present to the NHS for genuine reasons. S119 of the Criminal
Justice and Immigration Act 2008 has been used successfully by police and
health in England to address the issue since the specific section came into
force in 2009, yet there is no power to do so in Wales, and although Welsh
government suggested that there would be the development of similar powers to
address the issue in Wales, this has not been forthcoming.
Status
This petition was considered completed by the
Petitions Committee at its meeting on 09/02/2021.
The Committee considered the correspondence received
and, in light of the length of time that has elapsed since the petition was
submitted without a substantial update or progress having been made, and given
the lack of further responses from the petitioner since the petition was
submitted, the Committee agreed to close the petition and thank the petitioner.
Full details of the consideration of this petitions
by the committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.
It was first considered by the Petitions Committee
on 23/01/2018.
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Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 12/12/2017