Ireland

Assaults on psychiatric nurses up 47% since 2001

Psychiatric nurses were attacked more than 1,250 times last year in what was an increase of almost 50 per cent on 2001, delegates…

Thu May 11 2006 - 01:00

Psychiatric nurses were attacked more than 1,250 times last year in what was an increase of almost 50 per cent on 2001, delegates at the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) annual conference will be told today.

In a shocking report on violence against medical staff, the PNA detailed attacks in which workers were stabbed, bitten, kicked and punched and had bones fractured and teeth knocked out.

Blood-filled syringes, fire extinguishers, pool cues, chairs and crutches were used as deadly weapons, the report noted.

Des Kavanagh, PNA general secretary, said the study, the first for four years, was an indictment of the Department of Health and Children and health service employers.

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He said psychiatric nurses were fed up with the lack of protection afforded to them by the state.

"The members of this union are sick and tired of broken promises by Government, abject failure by employers and the continuing deterioration in the safety or our workplaces," he said.

The PNA assault survey for 2005 found:

  • The total number of assaults reported was 1,257, a rise of 47 per cent.
  • Some 64 nurses took sick leave for more than three days after being assaulted, while 38 took more than a week off.
  • There were five nurses off sick for more than six months as a result of an assault, while 18 were on sick leave for all of 2005.
  • The total number of nurses who required more than three days' sick leave to recover from an assault in 2005 was 141 up 11 per cent.

The PNA said it is regrettable that despite the 2001 survey and the publication of the Task Force's Report on Assaults 2003, the Health Service Executive had failed to improve workplace security for psychiatric nurses.

The survey showed the most dangerous place to work was St Otteran's Hospital, Waterford, where 130 assaults occurred, with St John of God's Hospital, Dublin, and St Ita's Hospital, Portrane also reporting more than 100 incidents.

The PNA added that since its last research in 2001 a further 12 nurses had their career cut short by assault forcing them into premature retirement.