Patient put razor to nurse's throat

A DISTURBED patient put a cut throat razor to a nurse's throat and dragged her from the ward in the latest assault on hospital staff.

The Irish Nurses Organisation will today warn health employers that staff safety can no longer be jeopardised.

The nurse, in her 20s, was threatened with the blade when she refused to let the patient, who has since been committed to psychiatric care, leave Waterford Regional Hospital.

The incident comes just weeks after staff at Tallaght Hospital were held at gunpoint by a gang trying to free a prisoner in for treatment.

INO representative Tony Fitzpatrick said the nurse had been trying to calm the patient when the incident occurred on Monday morning.

“He was in the eye ward at the time and he got it into his head that he wanted to leave,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“While the nurse was trying to calm him, he produced the cut throat and backed her into a corner, holding her by the wrist. He was threatening to slit her wrist or throat,” he said.

“She couldn’t run because he had hold of her. One of her colleagues tried to phone for security but he saw her. He told her to drop the phone or he would injure the other nurse.

“In the end, three nurses, one of whom was in his grasp, walked down the corridor with him towards A&E, where the security personnel are normally stationed. Unfortunately, they were responding to another incident.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said the nurse was dragged into a car park by the patient, where he ordered her to get into a car and again threatened to injure her.

She broke free and gardaí later picked up the patient.

A statement from the South Eastern Health Board said that it and gardaí were investigating the attack, and that a security review was under way.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the nurses were unable to alert security via a panic button, because it was linked to nursing personnel, despite repeated INO requests to link it to security.

He said the nurses were “deeply shocked and traumatised” by the patient’s actions.

INO general secretary Liam Doran said: “We will be prioritising the issue when we meet today with the Health Service Employer’s Agency and we will be pushing for a dedicated 24-hour security personnel for A&E.

“In our view, that is the most self-evident deterrent to assaults on our nurses,” Mr Doran said.