Call to axe bed closure plan after nurse attack

The Psychiatric Nurses’ Association has called on the HSE to reverse a raft of proposed bed closures at mental health units in Cork after one of its members was attacked while on duty.

The female nurse, who is in her mid 20s, was attacked, knocked to the ground, and kicked several times in the head and face by a female patient in St Michael’s Mental Health Unit based at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork at around 11pm on Sunday.

It took five staff members to restrain the patient, who is in her 40s.