Assaults in hospital increase

THERE has been a significant increase in the number of assaults at Kerry General Hospital.

And Cork University Hospital staff want mobile security patrols to combat violence.

The Health Services Executive (Southern Region) said yesterday that there have been 53 reports of physical or verbal abuse of staff at Kerry General Hospital during the first nine months of this year.

A HSE spokesman said this compared with 42 assaults in 2004.

Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) industrial relations officer Micheal Dineen said the increase is “very worrying”.

Mr Dineen said that the level of reported assaults in Tralee was nearly three times higher than that at CUH.

Mr Dineen’s counterpart in Cork, Patsy Doyle, said she believes that there is a significant under-reporting of incidents at CUH. The HSE said that from January to September 2004 there were 31 assaults at CUH. For the comparable period this year there were 18.

She said that assaults could also happen in operating theatres when people reacted in a disturbed manner to anaesthetics.

She said he didn’t believe there were enough security guards at CUH.