Ten assaults on HSE nurses and midwives are reportedly committed daily, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization.
The INMO will inform the Oireachtas Health Committee next week that the Health and Safety Authority is not doing enough to safeguard hospital employees from an increase in violent and aggressive incidents.
There have been reported incidents of physical, verbal, and sexual assault.
Between January 2021 and October 2022, the HSE reported 5,593 assaults against nursing and midwifery staff, according to the INMO.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the numbers of incidents have been rising.
“It’s now recorded at ten assaults a day against nurses and midwives,” she said.
The INMO said these figures cover HSE hospitals and does not include assaults on staff in other Section 38 facilities such as voluntary hospitals.
“We know these figures are not telling the full story,” said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.
New data from the HSE shows 334 assaults on nursing staff in June of 2022 and 300 in September 2022. In June 2021 there were 253 assaults recorded and 263 in September 2021.
Ms. Ní Sheaghdah said: “91% of our members are women. They should not be in an environment that exposes them to this additional risk of injury, assault, verbal abuse, and sexual abuse.”
The INMO believes the increase in assaults is directly linked to overcrowding and staff shortages in hospitals. “Research tells us that this increases assaults. We believe it is high time to stop it.”
The Oireachtas committee will be told that the personal cost of such behavior towards healthcare workers can be “immense both physically and emotionally”.
It will be told that violence and aggression in the workplace can lead to “increased levels of anxiety, depression, demoralisation, and post-traumatic stress”.
In a statement to This Week, the HSE said that a number of security measures had been put in place across sites including “access control to clinical areas”. It said staff training had been put in place as well as “onsite security services to support staff in dealing with challenging situations”.
The HSE is also prioitising a security review at Emergency Departments and will hold further meetings with the INMO on this.
But the INMO said the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is failing in its duty to health service workers.
“The HSA have prosecuted one employer under their legislation,” Phil Ní Sheaghdha said. “When you work in the health services it’s considered not the same as other workplaces.”
The INMO is calling for the no-fault compensation scheme to be extended to all nursing staff.
“In the event that you are out of work because of an accident that you don’t have to go through the whole rigamarole to prove you are not at fault.”
Source: RTE