Hospital safety - Security issue vital to our health service

BY any yardstick, the fact that nearly €18 million was spent last year providing security in the health service illustrates the scale of the problem facing staff at hospitals up and down the country.

A major study has found that those at the coal-face of the health service, particularly ambulance personnel and child care staff are subjected to high levels of violence in the course of their work.

Towards the end of last year, the situation had reached the point where Irish Hospital Consultants Association felt it was time to issued a warning that violence was on the increase in the country’s hospitals.