Stab vests go-ahead for NHS staff

NHS workers can have stab vests if local trust bosses deem them necessary, the Department of Health said.

Some paramedics already wear the body armour and other staff can have the equipment if security experts in each area give the go-ahead, a health spokesperson said.

According to The Observer, 10,000 stab vests have been ordered from Oxfordshire firm The Body Armour Company, mainly for NHS workers.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The Government takes the safety of NHS staff extremely seriously.

"Workers can have stab vests if it is decided they are necessary by their local NHS trust. Some ambulance services have already introduced them.

"We believe the security experts based in each individual ambulance service are best placed to decide safety priorities for their staff."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson earmarked £97 million for extra security for NHS workers earlier this year.

The comments come amid rising concern over the number of knife attacks in the UK.

In London, 14 of the 18 teenagers to die violently so far this year were stabbed.

Decisions over whether to give council workers stab vests will also be made by individual authorities, a Local Government Association spokesman said.

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