Across the United Kingdom, the mental health and safety of healthcare workers have come under a stark spotlight, as two Devon hospitals recently planted memorial trees to honor colleagues lost to suicide and a Northern Ireland hospital launched a pioneering body camera pilot to combat rising violence against staff. These parallel stories, emerging in September 2025, paint a sobering picture of the pressures facing those on the medical frontlines—and the urgent, evolving responses now underway to protect and remember them.
At the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (RD&E) and North Devon District Hospital, staff gathered last week for tree-planting ceremonies that coincided with National Suicide Memorial Day for Health and Care Workers. According to BBC Devon, the events served as poignant reminders of the toll that relentless workplace stress can take on those who dedicate their lives to caring for others. "Many of us in the NHS will have been affected by the loss of a colleague to suicide, so we hope these trees will allow those who have sadly taken their own lives to be honoured and remembered," said Dr Vanessa Purday, chief medical officer at the RD&E.
The statistics behind such memorials are nothing short of alarming. In the UK, a nurse takes their own life every week, and a doctor every three weeks, a spokesperson reported. These figures, shared during the ceremonies, highlight a persistent crisis that has haunted the National Health Service (NHS) for years. Healthcare professionals are, as Dr Purday put it, "under enormous pressure every day," underscoring the importance of providing robust mental health and wellbeing support to those who care for the nation.
The tree-planting initiative is part of the National Memorial Tree Campaign, established by the medical mental health charity Doctors in Distress. The campaign aims not only to remember those lost but also to spark conversations about mental health in the workplace—a subject that, for too long, has been shrouded in silence and stigma.
While Devon’s hospitals were reflecting on loss and remembrance, healthcare workers in Northern Ireland were grappling with a different, but related, crisis: a surge in violence and aggression directed at staff. At Antrim Area Hospital, nurse Emeria Doherty, with 25 years of experience, described a work environment transformed by fear and unpredictability. "There’s been a massive increase in violence and aggression towards healthcare workers," Doherty told BBC News. She recounted harrowing incidents where patients were "throwing anything they could get their hands on" at nurses, and some even arrived armed with knives.
In response, Antrim Area Hospital launched a 12-week pilot program on September 1, 2025, equipping nurses with body-worn cameras. The Northern Trust, which manages the hospital, is the first regional health trust in Northern Ireland to implement such a scheme for healthcare staff. The cameras, which are only activated during incidents after warning patients, have already made a difference, according to Doherty. "We have a lot of staff that have had to go off with long-term sickness because of violence and aggression," she said. "We don't want that, so we are very happy wearing these body-worn cameras for our safety and for the safety of patients."
The scale of the problem is staggering. Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, there were almost 56,000 recorded instances of physical abuse and nearly 13,000 cases of verbal abuse reported across Northern Ireland's six health trusts. Within the Northern Trust alone, staff faced nearly 10,000 incidents of verbal or physical abuse during that period. Such numbers are not merely statistics—they represent real people, many of whom have been forced to take extended sick leave due to the trauma and injuries sustained on the job.
The emotional toll of these attacks is profound. Suzanne Pullins, executive director of nursing at the Northern Trust, acknowledged the gravity of the situation. "Attacks did not happen every day, but when they do it was quite emotionally disturbing for staff," Pullins said. "We never anticipated that we would be in this position of having to implement body-worn cameras." She emphasized the vulnerability of both patients and staff, noting, "People who come to use our services are vulnerable. They're not well. They don't wish to be exposed to violence and aggression whilst they wait for their treatment or assessment."
The pilot program’s design is measured: body cameras are not running constantly but are switched on only when staff cannot de-escalate a situation and after informing those involved. Doherty explained, "Our job is to de-escalate a situation. If we can't de-escalate that situation, then we let people know that we are switching the camera on." Early results suggest that the presence of cameras has already reduced violence against staff members. Yet, as Doherty put it, "It's a sad day. And I never dreamt that it would ever come to this, but I think it needs to be the norm."
Body-worn cameras are not entirely new to the UK’s health and emergency services. Paramedics in some regions already use them, primarily for transparency and evidence gathering. In 2022, the Southern Trust piloted cameras for security teams at Craigavon Area and Daisy Hill hospitals. Police officers, too, routinely wear similar devices. However, the extension of this technology directly to healthcare staff in hospital settings marks a significant—and controversial—shift in workplace safety culture.
The debate over the use of body cameras is far from settled. The Belfast Trust, which recorded more than 22,000 instances of physical abuse towards staff from 2019/20 to 2023/24—significantly higher than any other trust in the region—is considering a similar pilot scheme. Meanwhile, the South Eastern Trust has stated it currently has no plans to introduce body-worn cameras in its Emergency Department but will "monitor progress across the region to determine the effectiveness of the pilot scheme."
For now, the pilot at Antrim Area Hospital is being closely watched by healthcare leaders and policymakers across the UK. Pullins stressed the importance of a thoughtful approach: "That's really key for us to consider at the end of this pilot and to really work out the strategy for our organisation." The hope is that these measures—whether memorial trees or wearable cameras—will not only protect and honor healthcare workers but also prompt a broader reckoning with the systemic challenges they face.
As the NHS and its staff continue to navigate an era marked by both compassion and crisis, the stories from Devon and Northern Ireland serve as a clarion call for change. The memory of lost colleagues and the daily reality of workplace violence demand more than symbolic gestures—they require sustained action, honest dialogue, and a renewed commitment to the wellbeing of those who care for us all.
