The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for increased security across all areas of hospital campuses.
It comes as figures reveal that over 5 nurses were physically, verbally or sexually assaulted a day in the month of June.
In 2021 the Health and Safety Authority recorded 7477 inspections but only 446 inspections in health and social care settings, compared to 2865 in construction.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
“These assault figures are unacceptable and unfortunately not news to our union. As we continually highlight overcrowding, Covid care and its restrictions and poor staffing levels all add to this increasing problem. Nurses are facing the brunt of physical and verbal aggression in hospital. In some cases, our members are victims of career ending assaults. Anecdotally we know that many nurses and midwives do not report many of the incidents that take place in our hospitals because they do not have support to do so. The pressure cooker type environment that our members work in is leading to more assaults. This means that frontline staff are being put at risk for conditions they are not responsible for. Soothing words from their employer and an acknowledgment of the scale of the problem is not enough for our members at this stage. In the last year, 90% of our members reported being mentally exhausted during or after work. Inadequate safety protections only add to the burnout."
