Calls for probe after A&E nurse suffers vicious attack

AN accident and emergency nurse, who had been in Ireland for just a couple of months, was lifted by the hair, slammed against a wall and repeatedly punched in the head and neck in a vicious attack at work.

She was so badly hurt that she had to spend the night at St Vincent’s University Hospital in south Dublin, where the incident occurred on Tuesday. Apart from her substantial physical injuries, the young woman, believed to be from India, is said to be traumatised following the assault.

She was working triage, making initial assessments of patients before deciding who should be sent over to accident and emergency.

A man stepped in to her room beside the waiting area, grabbed her by the hair and pushed her against the wall.

Eyewitnesses described how the nurse was repeatedly punched in the face. Other patients in the waiting room and relatives had to pull the man away.

The Irish Nurses’ Organisation has demanded increased security and an investigation, claiming there was no security staff in the area and the nurse was not equipped with a panic alarm, as is standard in many hospitals. The waiting area, and triage room, is somewhat isolated away from the main A&E unit.

INO industrial relations officer Philip McAnenly said: “This serious incident was avoidable had hospital management implemented independent recommendations to equip A&E staff with personal alarms and provide adequate security staff in this high risk area.”

Management had given assurances that undercover security personnel were employed at the hospital to protect staff in the event of such an attack but none were present during the assault, Mr McAnenly said.

He said the attack has heightened fears among staff. “The nurses are describing a situation of fear, fearing of going into the hospital.”

Management at St Vincent’s said it is carrying out a full investigation into the “highly regrettable and totally unacceptable incident”.

The hospital said nurses have not raised any concerns regarding overall safety arising from this incident and staff security has not been raised as an issue in recent times.

“This is the first incident of this nature to have occurred in the past year in our emergency department, which has had approximately 40,000 patient attendances. As part of its review, the hospital has retained the services of independent risk management experts to carry out a full examination of the systems and procedures that are in place and any improvements that are deemed necessary will be made.”