Almost half of assaults on healthcare staff last year were on nurses

There were 4,166 reported assaults against nursing staff in 2020. Photo: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

There were 8,667 reports of assaults on HSE staff last year according to figures released by the agency. The figures were released to Newstalk under a freedom of information request.

Of all the attacks, nurses make up by far the highest amount, at over 48%, totalling 4,166 assaults against nursing staff in 2020.

6,900 of these reported assaults were direct physical attacks, while 1,707 were verbal, and 60 were sexual assaults.

David Hughes, the Deputy General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), says a lot of the assaults are very dangerous: “There are nurses who lose time because of these assaults, who have to go and get their injuries looked after.

“Knives have been used in some cases, I think even a gun was pulled out at one stage in an area where there were nurses and other care staff.

“They can be very violent, a lot of it is physical but the verbal abuse is quite huge as well.” 

The largest amount of assaults occurred in the Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, and Monaghan areas, with 1,028 reports of assault last year.

The HSE says their priority is ensuring the safety of employees and service-users, and that training on managing violence and aggression is provided to staff.