Launched in September 2026, Safe to Care is the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s new campaign calling for an end to the horrendous violence and aggression our members and their colleagues in Emergency Departments across the UK.
RCEM is calling for concerted action at trust, health board and government level to ensure staff are safe to care.
Our top priorities
Preventing violence and aggression before it occurs
Tackling overcrowding, poor environments and long waits. Introduce and implement national standards for security in EDs to provide a more effective deterrent and rapid response.
Ensuring perpetrators face justice
Taking a cross-system approach across the NHS/HSCNI, police services and the crown prosecution service and devolved equivalents.
Providing support to victims of violence and aggression
Making reporting easier, strengthening links between healthcare teams and police, and ensuring those affected receive timely follow-up, psychological first aid and ongoing wellbeing support.
A UK-wide survey of more than 2,100 emergency department staff conducted between April and May 2026 found:
Our campaign
Violence against NHS staff is neither an inevitable nor acceptable part of working in emergency medicine. Every member of staff has the right to work in a safe environment. By tackling overcrowding, improving security, supporting victims and ensuring perpetrators face meaningful consequences, governments, trusts and health boards can make violence against emergency department staff a rare occurrence by the end of the decade.
Join the campaign
This is just the start of our campaign – keep looking out for our latest briefings, reports and toolkits coming out over the coming months.