AEGIS Protective Services

When called to assist clinical staff, Security Officers should never have to ask:

✅ Is the patient free to leave?

✅ Why are we stopping them leaving?

✅ What legal authority applies?

✅ Does the patient lack the mental capacity to decide whether to leave hospital?

✅ What am I actually expected to do?

✅ Is there anything medically important I need to know, including restraint contraindications?

By the time Security is called, these questions should already have been considered and answered by the responsible clinician.

A clear clinical briefing is not a courtesy. It is an essential safeguard.

If we expect Security Officers to support patient care safely, lawfully and effectively, we must ensure they receive the information they need before any intervention takes place.

Is it time for the NHS to adopt a standardised "Clinical Briefing to Security" model?

Interested to know your thoughts.

We're pleased to present the Business Case for investing in the AEGIS Healthcare Security Officer Training, v4 course.

It's free to download. No sign up required.

We hope you'll find it compelling and persuasive!

https://aegisprotectiveservices.co.uk/the-business-case-for-investment-in-aegis-hso-training-v4/

Dementia is commonly encountered in NHS settings and can significantly affect how patients think, communicate, and behave.

This can present significant challenges, not only for clinical staff, but also for Security Officers who may be called upon to support the safe management of agitation, wandering, resistance to care, or behaviour that may place the individual or others at risk.

The AEGIS 'Dementia Awareness' e-learning course provides a practical understanding of dementia and equips officers with the skills to respond safely, calmly, and with empathy - recognising that behaviour is often a form of communication and that physical intervention is a last resort.

The emphasis throughout is on understanding behaviour as communication, reducing escalation, and supporting clinical staff - recognising that physical intervention should always be a last resort.

To find out more, please click the link below:

https://aegisprotectiveservices.co.uk/training-courses/course-info-dementia-awareness/

A serious question for the NHS: Why is there no NHS National Standard training for frontline staff on the legal powers used to detain or prevent patients leaving?

How can the NHS expect consistent, lawful and defensible decisions about deprivation of liberty when there is no nationally standardised training and no nationally standardised briefing process?

Read more..

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/serious-question-nhs-jim-o-dwyer-ux2ce

Winning NHS security contracts is about assurance, not just price.

NHS Trusts increasingly evaluate security tenders on assurance, competence, and risk management, not cost alone.

Private Security Contractors who can evidence healthcare-specific training for their operatives will score higher on quality, governance, and risk.

AEGIS Healthcare Security Officer Training, v4, provides a clear, NHS-relevant competence baseline that can be referenced directly in bids, demonstrating suitability beyond generic SIA licence-linked training and reducing concerns around liability, reputational harm, and service failure - key considerations for NHS evaluation panels.

This training isn’t an overhead. It’s the differentiator - a bid-strengthening control that improves quality scores, reassures NHS Trusts, and protects contract value.

Course: Healthcare Security Officer Training v4 The AEGIS Healthcare Security Officer Training v4 course sets the professional standard for Healthcare Security Officers working in the NHS.

We are pleased to announce the availability of seven new Security CPD courses to support our Healthcare Security Officer Training v4 programme - which acts as foundation training for NHS Security Officers.

Together, they help organisations develop safer, more professional and more defensible practice.

✅ Challenging Behaviour

✅ Self-Harm Awareness

✅ Safeguarding

✅ Smoke-Free Policy Enforcement

✅ Radio Communications

✅ Body Worn Video on NHS Premises

✅ Dementia Awareness.

All courses are delivered online and include immediate downloadable certification upon successful completion.

Current launch price: £29.99 per person, per CPD course. Discount available for group bookings.

Please contact us for further information, or visit the AEGIS Protective Services website. Thanks.

https://aegisprotectiveservices.co.uk/training-courses/

The introduction of Body Worn Video (BWV) into NHS Acute and Mental Health settings is often presented as being about violence prevention and evidence gathering.

But the real objective is something even more important:

Transparency of process.

BWV has the potential to protect patients, staff and organisations alike — but only when its use is safe, lawful, consistent and professionally governed.

Research and frontline experience continue to confirm that one of the most critical issues is not simply how to switch the camera on - but:

• When should recording start?

• When should it stop?

• What should be recorded?

• What should never be recorded?

• How is patient dignity protected?

• How do we avoid escalating distress, paranoia or fear?

• How do we ensure consistency between staff?

Too often, organisations introduce BWV and rely largely on manufacturer-led instruction focused on operating the device itself.

However, operational use of BWV in healthcare - particularly within Mental Health settings - is far more complex than learning which button to press.

Without clear, risk-informed Standard Operating Procedures and explicit operational instructions, decision-making is left to individual BWV users in dynamic, emotionally charged situations.

That creates inconsistency.

And inconsistency matters.

Because patients quickly notice when some staff record and others do not… when cameras are activated for one patient but not another… or when recording suddenly starts during restraint or conflict.

In Mental Health environments especially, this can damage trust, increase suspicion, undermine therapeutic relationships — and in some cases escalate violence rather than reduce it.

As the recent reflections shared by the IAHSS UK Chapter highlighted, the challenge is not simply whether BWV should be used, but how its use genuinely improves safety and experience for everybody involved.

Technology alone is never enough.

Safe and effective BWV use depends upon:

• Clear governance

• Risk-assessed operational procedures

• Consistent application

• Trauma-informed practice

• Professional judgement

• Communication and de-escalation skills

• Proper training and assessment

Our ‘Using BWV on NHS Premises’ e-learning course was specifically developed to help address these issues and support safer, more consistent and professionally defensible use of BWV within healthcare environments.

Because in healthcare, it’s not just the presence of technology that matters.

It’s how professionally it is used and managed!

To find out more, click the link below.

https://aegisprotectiveservices.co.uk/training-courses/course-info-body-worn-video-on-nhs-premises/

Train Locally - Certify Nationally

The AEGIS Healthcare Security Officer Training, v4 course lets you learn online, in the classroom, or both – with identical national certification.

https://aegisprotectiveservices.co.uk/training-courses/course-info-healthcare-security-officer-training/