Level of assaults on nursing staff ‘significantly under-estimated’ by employers

HEALTH employers have been accused of significantly under-estimating the level of assaults on nursing staff.

Irish Nurses’ Organisation general secretary Liam Doran said new figures compiled by the Health Service Employers’ Agency (HSEA) only confirmed the number of nurses off work as a result of a serious assault.

Mr Doran said there were incidents where nurses were pushed around and shaken but did not miss work as a result. Nurses were also verbally abused on a regular basis.

“What the HSEA has produced is a measure of major incidents but not a list of actual incidents,” he said.

Nurses were more at risk of being assaulted because of the time people spend waiting in A&Es, he said.

“Tempers are raised, people are agitated and they take it out on nursing staff,” he said.

But HSEA deputy chief executive Brendan Mulligan insisted the Hospital Watch Scheme, which had the full backing of the gardaí, was working well.

“The scheme won’t deter every assault and even one assault is one too many but it is working well and the statistics bear this out,” he said.

As part of the settlement to the 2002 Accident and Emergency dispute, employers were forced to improve their security arrangements.

The scheme provided for a greater garda presence, reinforced doors and CCTV. Nurses have also been provided with personal alarms and instructed on how to protect themselves.

It was also agreed that nurses who were out sick as a result of being assaulted at work would not lose out on pay.

However, Mr Doran said employers had failed to provide a management grade of staff to communicate with the public in A&E wards.

“At the moment, nobody tells people what’s going on. The only information they get is from a nurse and it isn’t a nurse’s job.”

Mr Doran said someone with the specific job of managing the queue was needed, to ensure people don’t get agitated to a point where they hit out at the nearest nurse.

But part of the problem is that nurses themselves are reluctant to report incidents as readily as they should.

Mr Doran accepted that the level of verbal and physical assaults continued to be under-reported because nurses accepted it and got on with their job.

That did not mean they didn’t happen and shouldn’t be addressed, he pointed out.