Unison calls for security roll-out

Unison Scotland has called for social workers
carrying out home visits to be protected by a security system that
is being piloted in a Scottish hospital.

The public sector union’s organiser in
Scotland, Jim Devine, has appealed for the extension of the
Guardian Angel scheme currently being tested at St John’s Hospital,
West Lothian.

The scheme involves the visiting worker paging
the address of their visit and likely duration to the switchboard.
If at the end of the time they then fail to contact the
switchboard, an alarm system automatically kicks in, including the
capacity to listen to 45 seconds of conversation between the worker
and the member of public.

“It adds to the security when visiting clients
in their homes when, in some cases, no previous information on the
individual’s background is known,” Devine said.

Unison wants the Scottish executive to
introduce the scheme throughout the country to statutory and
voluntary social workers, as well as other local authority and
health staff.