A Liverpool man who experienced a dramatic change in personality after a brain injury has thanked Capricorn Security’s NHS Bed Watch team who supported him and his family during a violent and frightening recovery.
Craig Carter, 62, a former railway worker, was a man with a real lust for life, racing cars, travel, and football, before falling from a ladder while he was gardening in October 2024. When his wife Angela found him, she saw he’d hit his head on concrete and didn’t appear to be breathing. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Craig was flown to Salford Royal Infirmary by the North West Air Ambulance.
The head injury had caused Craig’s behaviour to change completely, he became aggressive and prone to violent outbursts, which prompted Salford Royal to request a security safeguarding team, known as ‘bed watch’.
“When I was told Craig had tried to hit people in hospital and had to have security, I was mortified,” his wife Angela said. “But if it wasn’t for Capricorn, I don’t think he would have recovered so well, and I can’t thank them enough, I really can’t”.
Our NHS team put a regular team of six in place, which meant two security guards sitting outside his room night and day, with Craig showing very unpredictable, aggressive behaviour, wanting to escape, and being verbally abusive to staff.
But instead of responding with force or indifference, our specially trained officers left a lasting impression on Craig and his family with their calm, respectful and supportive approach, with his wife is convinced they played a crucial role in his recovery.
Angela said: “They showed an extra interest, they formed a bond with Craig and the family. They asked about him, what his interests were, what his hobbies were, what did he like talking about, obviously they knew he was a Scouser, so they asked which football club he followed.”
Angela also took in a photo album with lots of different pictures of memories, family, friends, holiday pictures, with descriptions, and the Capricorn staff even used that to talk to Craig.
“If he was ‘going off on one’, or having a bit of a moment, they’d try to talk to him about football, or motor racing, or they’d go and get the photo album, even though Craig was trying to hit some of them, and he did hit quite a few of them, they never held it against him, they understood it was his injury, and it wasn’t him as a person. They were just so caring.”
Craig’s stay at Salford Royal lasted 14 weeks, during which he was eventually moved off the Trauma Ward and onto ward L4, however, the bed watch team stayed the same, until they were eventually stood down and Craig was discharged.
Chris Worden, Capricorn’s Area Response Supervisor for various NHS Hospitals around Greater Manchester and East Lancashire reflected on Craig’s journey:
“There were days Craig was not in a good mood and officers de-escalated his behaviour a number of times, he would verbally abuse staff, also try to escape and had to be escorted to his room, but then days would arise when the team started to see Craig being quite humorous. During one of my visits, Craig was so emotional and apologised when he learned how he had been in the early days of his illness, and now, realising how poorly he was.”
Rebuilding life after trauma
Today, Craig is continuing his recovery at home with his wife Angela, and both have since reached out to Capricorn to thank our team, along with giving them ‘thank you’ cards and presents.
When we visited Craig and Angela, Craig was visibly upset when he reflected on what the team had done for him:
“They saved my life, they got me my emotions back, and that’s what helped me, all the different things they spoke to me about, they came along and they gave me a life..”
He also revealed he was gutted when the team was stood down and he didn’t need security anymore, as he now calls them ‘my mates’.
Craig has to go back to Salford Royal every week for checks on his progress, but tries to make sure he sees every single one of the Capricorn team who looked after him. One week he even took a special cornflake cake for Lee, diehard Manchester City fan, but who used to show films of Liverpool FC’s various victories. With a cheeky twinkle in his eyes, Craig laughed when he told us ‘there’s only ONE football team’.
For Angela, Craig’s wife, Capricorn’s NHS team have become the real hidden heroes of the hospital corridors at Salford Royal:
“Although they were put outside the room to do a role, make sure Craig didn’t injure himself or injure anyone else, they also formed a bond with him and saw that he needed support. If I wasn’t there, they’d go for a chat or walk round the ward with him.
I just can’t believe the support they gave us…it wasn’t just Craig, they would come to me and my daughter, and my mum and dad, and ask us how we were coping, how we were doing at home, and ask if there was anything they could do for us.
That to me, is going above and beyond, you wouldn’t expect a security guard to do that. and that’s why we wanted to show our appreciation, because they didn’t have to do that, but they did.”
Anyone can build a team, but Capricorn Security has built the best team in NHS Healthcare Security. All our staff are dedicated and hard-working, so for us to receive this recognition from Angela and Craig is confirmation of this, and to be honest, we are all really touched by it, especially the team, who said they were ‘just doing our job’.
We would like to share the names of the team which supported Craig on his road to recovery.
Lee Ferguson, Francis Amankulor, Priscilla Longo, Happy Aguanomwan, Bilal Malik, Akeem Adetunja, and Harder Abbas, we are proud of you.
If you would like more information on this service, please contact us now.
