By Lewis Elkins – ASG Group Commercial Director
Every day, NHS staff face levels of violence and aggression that would be unacceptable in any other workplace. Yet when it comes to protecting these frontline healthcare workers, security services are routinely bundled into facilities management tenders alongside catering, cleaning, pest control, laundry services, and building maintenance – as if safeguarding human lives requires no more expertise than managing a car park.
The consequences of the NHS’s choice for security provision aren’t measured in just pounds and pence. They’re counted in assaults on staff, traumatised workers taking sick leave, and a healthcare workforce that increasingly feels unsafe. It’s time for NHS Trusts to recognise that security is a specialist profession, not an FM line item.
The Procurement Problem That Puts Staff at Risk
When NHS Trusts bundle security within comprehensive FM contracts, they create an artificial barrier that excludes the very providers best equipped to protect their staff.
The reality is stark: specialist security companies with decades of healthcare experience cannot compete for bundled FM tenders. They lack the revenue scale to deliver catering, cleaning and laundry services. But they excel at the one thing that matters most—reducing violence and aggression whilst creating environments where clinical care can flourish.
Because of this, the NHS limits competition as only very few companies can deliver all of these services. By limiting competition, there is less choice, which tends to lead to poorer quality services and higher costs. By separating security, NHS Trusts enable specialist security companies, including SMEs, to bid for the tender. This increases competition and choice, which leads to better services and more competitive rates.
As Paul Grzegorzek, ASG’s NHS Account Director, observes: “NHS staff face extraordinary pressures and deserve specialist protection, not security services managed as an afterthought within a broader FM contract. When procurement processes exclude specialist providers, Trusts limit their access to the expertise, innovation, and proven methodologies that actually reduce assaults on staff.”
The bundled approach creates a dangerous misconception: that security expertise is interchangeable with general facilities management. It isn’t.
What Healthcare Security Actually Requires
Account Management
Healthcare security requires a dedicated Account Manager who understands healthcare security. In FM contracts, you receive an Account Manager who needs to understand and deliver security, cleaning, pest control, laundry services and general maintenance. How can you realistically expect anyone to understand all these disciplines? This is why you must have security professionals providing security services.
This is becoming even more crucial with the introduction of Martyn’s Law and the impact this will have on all hospitals and the changes they will need to make to be compliant. Will an FM Account Manager have the skills and knowledge to understand what changes need to be made and implement those changes?
Security Officers
Being a security officer in the modern NHS means being part security officer, part police officer, part social worker, part healthcare assistant, and part counsellor—all simultaneously.
These professionals must possess working knowledge of:
- The Mental Health Act (1983 & 2007) and Mental Capacity Act (2005)
- Sections 119 and 120 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
- De-escalation techniques for patients in crisis
- Safeguarding protocols for children and vulnerable adults
- Clinical environments, including ED and mental health assessment units
- Trauma-informed approaches to patient care
- Use of force legislation and restraint alternatives
- The ability to implement safe restraint techniques and justify why they used force
In FM contracts, does the security team get the investment and time to ensure they can safely protect NHS staff whilst staying within the legal framework? As security only makes up a small proportion of FM contracts, and with all services requesting funding from the same pot, does security miss out on crucial funding, time and training? On contracts where security is the sole service, the team receives the investment, training and time needed to become security professionals able to actively protect your staff, visitors and patients.
This specialist knowledge extends far beyond traditional security services, let alone general facilities management. Yet bundled procurement routinely favours generalist FM providers over security specialists.
The Specialist Difference: Innovation Through Collaboration
What separates specialist healthcare security from generalist provision? Evidence-based innovation developed through clinical collaboration.
Consider comprehensive training programmes delivering monthly scenario-based drills covering CBRNe threats, lockdown procedures, and mental health crisis response—going far beyond basic SIA licensing to create genuinely healthcare-competent security teams.
Specialist providers also train clinical and non-clinical NHS staff in de-escalation, situational awareness, and communication techniques. This creates a hospital-wide culture of safety that extends beyond security teams alone.
The Financial Reality NHS Trusts Must Face
NHS procurement teams often assume bundled FM contracts offer better value. The evidence suggests otherwise.
When security is just one line in an FM contract, monthly reviews cover catering complaints, building maintenance, cleaning standards, and security, diluting attention across everything. With dedicated security contracts, every meeting focuses exclusively on keeping people safe.
The hidden costs of inadequate security include:
- Increased sick leave from assaults and workplace anxiety
- Higher staff turnover as workers seek safer environments
- Lost productivity from traumatised or fearful staff
- Compensation claims from preventable incidents
- Recruitment costs to replace departing staff
NHS Staff Survey data reveals a striking correlation: trusts scoring poorly on “we are safe and healthy” also score poorly on staff morale. Across acute trusts, the safety score averages 6.09 whilst morale sits at just 5.91 – both significantly below optimal levels. This isn’t coincidental. When staff don’t feel safe, morale plummets, driving the retention crisis that plagues the NHS.
Staff who don’t feel safe don’t stay. Specialist providers deliver measurable improvements: increases in positive feedback, reductions in injuries, and significant assault reductions that offset any perceived additional procurement costs.
What NHS Trusts Should Do Differently
The solution requires a structural change in procurement:
1. Unbundle Security from FM Contracts
Separate security services from general facilities management tenders. Security is too important and too specialised to be procured alongside catering and cleaning.
2. Focus on Healthcare Security Expertise
Replace revenue thresholds with criteria that actually matter: proven healthcare security experience, violence reduction outcomes, comprehensive training programmes, clinical collaboration capabilities, and innovation track records.
3. Measure What Matters
Move beyond basic metrics like response times to track assault reduction rates, staff safety perception scores, de-escalation success rates, and training delivery to both security and clinical teams.
4. Enable True Competition
Allow specialist security providers to compete on merit rather than excluding them through FM bundle requirements that prioritise company size over security expertise.
The Time for Change Is Now
The practice of bundling security within general FM contracts undermines the specialist nature of healthcare security and potentially compromises service quality. By unbundling security tenders, NHS Trusts can ensure they receive high-quality, specialist services that properly address the unique challenges of healthcare environments.
Frontline NHS staff face violence that would be unacceptable in any other workplace. They deserve to not only be safe, but to feel safe—and this will only happen with the support of a specialist healthcare security provider.
The evidence is clear. The methodology exists. The specialists are ready to compete. All that’s needed is for NHS procurement to recognise that protecting people requires different expertise than managing buildings.
About Assist Security Group
Assist Security Group specialises exclusively in healthcare security, bringing over 30 years of experience to NHS trusts. ASG currently supports multiple major NHS trusts including Guy’s & St Thomas’, Croydon Health Services, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals, East Kent Hospitals University, Barts Health, and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Under CEO Troy Hewitt’s leadership, ASG delivers specialist healthcare security combining comprehensive training programmes, collaboration with clinical and non clinical teams, and integrated technology platforms.
For NHS Facilities Managers seeking specialist healthcare security services: sales@assistsecurity.co.uk
About Lewis Elkins – Group Commercial Director
Since joining ASG in 2022, Lewis has managed our commercial operations and has a proven track record in securing contracts that ensure that ASG clients get competitively priced security solutions that are professionally negotiated and structured to deliver genuine value whilst meeting all their operational requirements.
