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MORE THAN 848 nurses and midwives were assaulted in the first quarter of 2023, new figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show.
Over 62% of all assaults reported to the HSE in the first quarter of this year were carried out against nurses and midwives.
INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha has described the figures as “completely unacceptable”.
“No other profession sees this level of abuse levelled at them,” she said.
“The continued acceptance of intolerable hospital overcrowding is creating an environment in our hospitals that is allowing physical, verbal and sexual assault against our members to manifest.”
The INMO is calling on the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to take action through more inspections. The organisation also demands that employers who “fail to keep staff safe” be prosecuted.
A dedicated division of the HSA should be established to deal with the health service, they say.
“While we welcome legislation announced to increase maximum sentences for assaulting frontline workers, more must be done to enhance the safety of our members and their colleagues in their workplaces,” Ní Sheaghdha added.
“We need to see an up to date and actionable security review across all hospital sites. Assault prevention and de-escalation measures must be strengthened.
“It must be made clear that once you step foot in a hospital that there is zero tolerance for any kind of verbal, physical or sexual assault.
“Hospitals are workplaces, as well as places of care. No worker should have to put up with this level of abuse in the workplace.”
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We should never accept any form of assault in any situation in any position of employment.
We hear about verbal abuse in retail situations, in hospitality positions etc but a nurse should never by subjected to any form of abuse. If a person under substance abuse creates a situation there should always be a security guard there to STOP the abuse. Immediate removal from the area should be mandatory and an assessment under police supervision should be actioned. Any triage assessment should be made outside of any unsecured areas
I spent a night in Tallaght A&E and I was shocked at how the medical staff were treated. You must remember they are GROSSLY understaffed and also there was a big man with mental health issues who got hold of an oxygen tank and was kicking it down the corridor. The security couldn’t lay hands on him because he was a patient and we could pretty much all have been bl0wn up as a result. The lack of staff and resources is a total disaster.
@Anna Carr: My son was a security officer in the A&E of hospital in the area catering for Tipperary. He is also the brother of a special needs person and witnessed first hand the medical staff’s treatment in the A&E of a young man with special needs. The poor fella was extremely frightened and needed to be sedated in the ambulance outside the hospital before they took him inside and because they didn’t all hell broke lose and it took six people to hold him down to sedate him in the A&E before he could be seen. The carer of the fella kept telling them to sedate him outside before they took him in but no they did not listen to the carer and because of this he could have really hurt someone they need to listen to the carers of people especially with special needs as they know the person best and it could save a lot of hassle and avoid some of these assaults.
@silvery moon: I’m sorry to hear that
First world attitudes in third world environments
@zephyrum: Ever been in a 3rd world country, never mind a hospital in a 3rd world country?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Don’t many countries rely on family or friends to help them out in hospital? Not everyone can afford to hire nurses. Many don’t have immediate family living where they can visit. We shouldn’t take their work for granted – there aren’t enough of them and it’s a challenging career.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: yes, Ireland. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World
If we had mandatory sentencing, for assaulting Frontline and Government staff. It would not be happening as much, 5 years for Garda/4 for medical/3 for firefighters and 2 for government inspectors.
@Emmet Murphy: and how much time for assaulting a TD?
@KilkennyProud: Probation Act ?
More seriously, any assault, physical or verbal on emergency or healthcare workers is totally unacceptable. Nobody should have to fear being assaulted in their workplace or because of their work.
@Emmet Murphy: At first I was agreeing with you but that’s all after the fact of injury and the reality is very likely to be that sick people aren’t aware of hurting anyone. They’re understaffed as well, and having to look after people in corridors. I think everyone forgets that the core of our healthcare system is the public healthcare system. That takes the strain and we all need it at some stage. There will be endless delays regardless of which company supplies private insurance so long as our hospitals are understaffed.
@Emmet Murphy: interesting hierarchy there
@Emmet Murphy: mandatory sentencing really would not help much – the people doing the assaults are often too either confused or off their heads to think about consequences. Improved staffing levels and getting rid of overcrowding would be the best way to improve the situation. I say this as a nurse with 30 years experience
Hospitals are under staffed because nurses are underpaid. Paid less than teachers or Gardai. If we rewarded our healthcare professionals properly we would be able to retain them and have a working environment that is safer for staff and patients. Cannot understand why nurses are not paid graduate salaries… They are on the same scale as the executive officer in the civil service which only requires a leaving cert as opposed to a self funded four year honours degree. It’s a matter not only of respect but also pure economics in a cost of living and housing crisis. Pay nurses as graduates now. #inmo
@Valerie J Mck: Executive Officers start on a lower salary than nurses and most will have degrees as well. Also nursing degrees aren’t self funded, the taxpayer funds them (same as the majority of degrees in this country). We hear nurses complaing about the working conditions they face, like this article, but that will not be improved with extra pay but with extra staff especially consultants who can discharge patients. Also the problem with increasing pay for nurses is that all retired nurses will get the same payrise and there’s an awful lot of them. #break the taxpayer for your own selfish demands.
@The next small thing: then we will see the continued mass migration of pur young nurses and doctors. as is were losing the vast majority to places like australia canada britain etc.
@The next small thing: The problem is not that we need more consultants to discharge people – it that there is often not anywhere to discharge people too. Too many people are not acutely ill, and dont need a hospital bed but need continuing care and there are not enough places for them. For that investment is needed and,guess what MORE NURSES! ( In community care and hospital at home roles) To get more nurses we need to offer favorable conditions to retain nurses. When the investment is made it is actually a lot cheaper to discharge people out of expensive hospital beds and be cared for at home or other suitable settings – and its a lot better for the patients too. But the investment must be made first
Lads have to say these figures appear to be totally exaggerated, I doubt even our cops figures are that high… Think about it…. No level is acceptable but I don’t believe these figures sorry..
@realchief: Or they’re being discreet when some unfortunate patient thinks they’re an enemy to be knocked down? People may not remember lashing out, and discretion is fine but not daily abuse, accidental, mistaken or preventable.
@realchief: What data are you basing that on?? The feels??
Our nurses need help, not f0ols mouthing off.
They are among the best of our society.
@realchief: 100% Agree. Even half of that figure is way too high. I would question what definition they are using to define assault and the level of union ‘propaganda’. It is an emotional situation to have a loved one in hospital, excluding assault, are they including verbal ‘frustration’ by family and patients, as assault. As much as I would like to see nurses get a pay rise, work conditions should be prioritised over pay but instead are demoted to an excuse to get more pay.
@realchief: What are you basing this on? Real facts or just what you ‘feel’? I am a nurse and i have personally been assaulted too many times to count. Are you going to tell me I am making this up?
@BarryH: and you’re basing this on….notions in your head?
@realchief: so as the expert on figures, what is the real situation and what is you’re real name?
@realchief: they are only for acute hospitals, so the number is vastly under reported. It does not include community units mental health or disability services.
@realchief: I work in healthcare and the amount of assaults I have personally been subjected to in staggering, everything from multiple verbal assaults to broken bones due to assaults. unless you have experience in it you really should not doubt these figures. we nurses and health workers complete incident forms if an incident occurs, the figures are simply the outcome of the amount of incident forms they received. i have worked in areas where 15+ incident forms have been completed in any one day. don’t doubt it! support the workers rather than refuse to believe what they are subjected to
@BarryH: do you work in healthcare? do you have any experience? you have no clue what your talking about
Why are some people questioning the figures. 848 medical staff assulted in first 3 months(90 days) of the year. That equates to 9.4 staff assaulted every day. With every hospital in the country over flowing with patients and under staffed I’m surprised this is the figure. If anything I would suggest this is just the number that was reported.This is the entitled modern society we now live in. No front line worker should be subjected to any sort of physical or verbal abuse. But God forbid 1 of our frontline workers were to retaliate to the abuser/attacker there would be all hell to pay.
I would love to know how Ireland compare to other countries in this regards. I don’t know why the journal does not cover all sides of the story.
@Lynda: How would this be of any consequence? Ireland could be the best in the world or the worst, it doesn’t change the level of abuse in our health service.
@James Kerins: while we don’t like to see those abuses, unfortunately this happens in in all countries. I would like to know how Ireland compares?
@Lynda: Babiarczyk B, Turbiarz A, Tomagová M, Zeleníková R, Önler E, Sancho Cantus D. Reporting of workplace violence towards nurses in 5 European countries – a cross-sectional study. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2020 Apr 30;33(3):325-338. doi: 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01475. Epub 2020 Mar 26. PMID: 32235948.
Against midwives? What kind of people are out there?
A friend of mine was assaulted by a psych patient recently and needed 2 surgeries, she will be out for 8mths management new the patient was high risk for this as he had previously assaulted 3 other staff members he was put on 24/7 watch for just 4 days then left to go do it again which he did, there are not enough staff or security in hospitals and the hse won’t pay for extra nurses to come in from agency as it costs them double what they are paying the nurses there all the time. More needs to be done as it has got out of hand, I was attacked by a patient in a&e 10yrs ago and it ended my career if something isn’t done there’s going to be a tragedy
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