Peter answered in terms of being passionate about his work, ensuring the safety of the staff, protecting the Trust’s property and giving the security officers the right tools for the job, ‘whether equipment, training, processes, whatever. “It shows that you are working at a strategic level, and that you have a wide range of skills and personal qualities.” I asked if there was an element of personal pride in your work. That word ‘chartered’ is something the hospital consultant or other healthcare and management professionals can relate to even if they do not know the details of ‘chartered security professional’. A chartered security professional is on a par,’ with a chartered accountant, or a solicitor or engineer. Besides, in a hospital, as Peter adds, ‘I am working with healthcare professionals, who are qualified to the highest degree. To return, then to the CSyP like the Certified Protection Professional qualification from ASIS (Peter’s certificate, dating from 2009, is on his office wall) gives credibility among your security peers. Nor can healthcare workers do their jobs if their equipment is stolen or damaged. If nurses and doctors are hurt, or threatened, they cannot care of patients. And the hospital needs security – indeed Peter Finch begins by speaking of the function of a hospital: to give healthcare. To sum up, the hospital – the same as other hospitals in other cities – is part of its city and cannot barricade itself as a rule. The three men who were hit by a car and killed in Winson Green were taken to the City Hospital A&E some 300m away. The August 2011 rioting saw looting in Birmingham as in other city centres. Then, wounded drunks may come (and their friends may tag along) only to continue the dispute from the night-club that brought them to hospital. As in many other A&Es (and indeed towns), the scene on a weekday is quite unlike a Friday or Saturday night. Like many city hospitals, it’s like a small town, with paper shop, places to eat, people of all ages and shapes and all manner of business. I walked a quarter of a mile along the main hospital spine as far as the front of the hospital, to a Costa Coffee bar with canteen-style plastic seats and tables, before A&E (accident and emergency). Staff of all sorts walked about their business – pushing beds or wheelchairs, men in white overalls with paint on. I had arrived on site early, just off Birmingham city centre, and had walked through the main building. While I waited, two young nurses came into the building to have their photographs taken for their ID cards. ‘Where everyone matters’ said the coffee cup I was given – with coffee in, from one of the facilities staff. And added credibility in his workplace, which since Professional Security last visited in 2011 has new customer care promises. He described it as a matter of professional credibility – among other security people. Why put yourself through the paperwork for CSyP, and the interview with two senior figures in UK security management? Peter Finch, sitting behind his desk in his first floor office at City Hospital Birmingham, spoke of how ‘to become a chartered security professional is to be at the height of your profession’. Back at his office in Birmingham he spoke to Mark Rowe about how and why he sought the chartered standard, and of healthcare security matters arising from the conference. The recent brunch briefing of the National Association for Healthcare Security ( NAHS) ‘Dealing with Challenging Behaviour in Healthcare’ was the occasion for the presentation of the certificate of Chartered Security Professional (CSyP) status to the association chairman, Peter Finch the first to receive the certificate in the NHS.
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