Body worn camera trial begins at Antrim Area Hospital's Emergency Department
Healthcare staff within Antrim Area Hospital’s Emergency Department are taking in a 12-week pilot to trial the use of body-worn cameras.
Following a public consultation on the proposal earlier in 2025, the pilot began on Monday, September 1.
It aims to help reduce the number of incidences of violence and aggression towards healthcare staff, and enhance safety for patients.
Statistics published by the Department of Health (DoH) in 2023 showed there were more than 50,000 attacks on healthcare workers over a five-year period; of that figure, more than 6,600 were against workers in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.
Anne O’Reilly, chair of the Trust Board, said: “Sadly, we have become accustomed to reading headlines about health and social care staff being attacked or subjected to wholly unacceptable abuse.
“We know that the vast majority of people who attend our Emergency Departments are respectful of our staff and only a very small number engage in unacceptable behaviour – but even one is one too many.
“It’s disappointing that we are even having to consider such action; however, we hope that this pilot will act as a deterrent and make people stop and think about their behaviour towards our staff, and indeed other patients.
“It’s encouraging to see that the overwhelming majority of respondents to the consultation (91 percent) are supportive of this pilot going ahead and, as a Board, that gives us a great deal of reassurance that this is the right course of action.”
Last year, DoH launched a new framework, developed in partnership with HSC Trusts and Trade Unions, to help tackle violence and aggression towards health and social care staff. It was accompanied by the campaign strapline: “Violence and aggression. It’s not part of the job.”
The Northern Trust has also established its own internal Management of Violence and Aggression working group and has developed a staff toolkit to equip managers with a dedicated resource to support team members and colleagues impacted by violence and aggression in the course of their duties.
Audrey Harris, the Trust’s Director of Medicine and Emergency Medicine, said there was collective recognition of the need to enhance safety for both healthcare professionals and patients in high-pressure environments.
She added: “We owe it to our staff to do all we can to address violence and aggression in the workplace. Emergency Departments are always extremely busy and staff are working in very challenging circumstances under huge pressure to provide care for all those who come through the doors; they need our support. They should not have to deal with or tolerate any form of abuse; nor should patients have to witness those kinds of unacceptable behaviours.”
As part of the trial proposals, the Trust has considered implications around equality, human rights, data protection, privacy and dignity in relation to the use of body-worn cameras in an acute healthcare setting.
The cameras worn by staff will not always be recording. Under the proposals, they will only be used to capture footage should a situation escalate, and staff are obliged to tell a patient that they are being recorded.
During the trial, signage will be placed in the Emergency Department to make patients and visitors aware.
When the pilot concludes, it will be fully evaluated and an outcomes report brought back to the Trust Board.