Junior doctors ‘need protection from violence’

JUNIOR doctors working in psychiatric hospitals need better protection from violence and verbal abuse, a study has found.

An audit of an urban area with a population of 17,000, carried out by Lorcan Feeney and Dr Siobhán Barry, found high levels of incorrect or inappropriate use of on-call junior psychiatric doctors because there was no where else for people to turn after hours. These doctors were also subject to verbal abuse, threatening behaviour and violence.

The audit, published in this month’s Irish Medical Journal, said the first port of call for people seeking psychiatric help outside normal working hours is often the psychiatric junior doctor on call in a psychiatric hospital.