Under NHS England's new Standard Contract rules, NHS services will be able to protect staff by barring from non-emergency care any patient or visitor who inflicts discriminatory or harassing behaviour on staff.
Previously, individual NHS organisations could only refuse services to patients if they were aggressive or violent.
These announcements come as the 2019 NHS Staff Survey found that more than one in four NHS staff (28.5%) said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or members of the public, almost one in seven (14.9%) experienced physical violence, and almost 40,000 of those who responded (7.2%) said they faced discrimination from patients over the last year – up from 5.8% in 2015.
Racism was the most common form of discrimination, but 2019 also saw the highest levels of reported sexism and intolerance of religion and sexuality.
In an open letter to all NHS staff, Health Secretary Matt Hancock also confirms details of the new joint agreement between the NHS and the Crown Prosecution Service on offences against emergency workers. The agreement aims to ensure that those who act violently and with criminal intent towards NHS staff are swiftly brought to justice.
"The joint agreement provides a framework to ensure effective investigation and prosecution of cases where staff are the victim of a crime and sets out the standards victims of these crimes can expect. All assault and hate crimes against NHS staff must be investigated with care, compassion, diligence and commitment."
All staff are urged to report every incident and act of abuse against themselves or colleagues.
The Staff Survey also shows staff morale has improved across the NHS. Over four fifths of staff said they were happy with the quality of care they give to patients, and the proportion of staff saying they were able to deliver the care they aspire to was at its highest recorded level.
