Ref. 28873-40An abusive patient at Swindon's flagship hospital has been shown the red card and banned from the building for a year.

Health chiefs at the Great Western Hospital issued their first 12-month ban as part of their zero tolerance policy to protect staff from violent or offensive patients.

This means he cannot enter the hospital unless he needs emergency treatment.

The hospital has not named the man, due to patient confidentiality, but said he was an out-patient being treated at the end of last year.

Carl Beech, the manager of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, who oversees the red card procedure, said: "It's a process we do not take lightly, which is why we haven't issued red cards before.

"This patient was using abusive and offensive language to a female member of staff and sent pornographic material in the post to her.

"We felt his actions were severe enough to call in the police and issue the ban."

The hospital has not heard yet if any action has been taken by the police.

Mr Beech said the offender would be treated at the GWH only in emergency situations during the ban period.

He added: "We did not issue a literal red card, but a copy of our internal policy.

"Staff come up against abusive language, such as swearing and shouting, on a daily basis. Physical abuse is less common."

The policy sets out a list of behaviour deemed unacceptable on Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust premises.

It includes excessive noise, threatening or abusive language involving swearing or offensive remarks, derogatory racial or sexual remarks and drug dealing.

In October the Evening Advertiser revealed the health service had set aside £50m to implement a police- style training plan for hospital staff.

All front-line workers at the hospital are currently being trained in a self-protection course to help them cope with increasingly violent patients.

GWH spokesman Chris Birdsall said: "It's not about learning how to defend yourself using Jiu Jitsu or karate moves, but methods to calm situations.

"For example, if staff are on home visits and patients become abusive they will learn how to talk people down to diffuse the situation.

"We had a case two years ago when a patient kicked a member of staff.

"She was so traumatised by the incident she left the profession.

"The red card is the ultimate treatment.

"We will not tolerate this kind of abusive behaviour."

Last year a survey by the National Audit Office revealed a 13 per cent rise in violent attacks against NHS staff over two years.

PALS, which operates as part of the Government's ten-year plan to improve the services offered by the NHS, is run in conjunction with the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, Wiltshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Swindon PCT.

It can be contacted by telephone on 01793 708758 or by email at swindonpctpalscomments@swindon-pct.nhs.uk.