Hospital staff told: ‘I hope you catch Covid and die’
WORRYING RISE IN CARE WORKERS ABUSED BY PATIENTS AND VISITORS
“I hope you catch Covid and die!”
It is a horrific thing to say as coronavirus infections start to rise once more, but this abuse is the reality facing staff at Hull Royal Infirmary or Castle Hill Hospital.
While hospital staff are desperately fighting the virus and also trying to keep other vital services and treatments going, they are seeing a worrying rise in verbal abuse.
Katy Rutter, is the sister in the Eye Hospital at Hull Royal Infirmary.
“My staff have endured some terrible abuse from patients and relatives during the pandemic,” she said.
“One example was when a patient’s relative was asked to wait for their loved one outside.
“They became angry and said they hoped my staff member caught Covid and died, which is a horrific thing to say and totally unnecessary.
“Please don’t treat us this way when all we are trying to do is keep everyone safe.”
Katy says all the rules in place are for the safety of staff, patients and visitors alike.
“My staff are doing all they can right now to keep people safe,” she said. “They are meeting patients at the doors of the Eye Hospital as a means of lowering the risk of infection to others and ensuring no symptomatic patients come in.
“If they’re not already doing so, people are asked to wear a mask and sanitise their hands.
“Patients are also asked to attend by themselves whenever possible; we’ve had to reduce the available space in our waiting areas to allow for social distancing and this way, it means we can still see as many patients as possible.”
A junior sister in the plastics trauma clinic says she has seen more abuse in the past couple of weeks.
“It is a small minority who are abusing us,” she said, “but most are lovely and understanding about what we are trying to do.
“But more and more in the last couple of weeks we have had people questioning why we are doing what we are doing and not following the instructions.
“The other week we had a relative of a patient who was extremely verbally abusive and I nearly had to have them escorted out of the building by security.
“There was a lot of swearing and calling us idiots, telling us we didn’t know what we were doing. It was really upsetting and quite shocking.
“It is quite draining having the same conversations and, sometimes, arguments over and over again.
“I can understand why people get upset. It is not nice to be told you cannot come in with your loved one but we are dealing with a global pandemic.”
Head of outpatient services at the trust Eileen Henderson has echoed the concerns of other staff.
“We are all anxious about the situation and it is a new virus,” she said.
“But we need to make sure patients feel safe and that means following the guidance.
“Some staff have been really upset when some people start getting aggressive. We have had some people threatening to sue the staff and making empty threats.
“We have to deal with it by isolating the patient in another room as it can also be upsetting for the other patients.
“Thankfully, there has been no physical abuse reported so far, but any kind of abuse in unacceptable.
“You never know what is going to happen each day but our staff are excellent.
“They can have a difficult moment with a patient and then the next minute another person is shouting at them and that is difficult.
“Our priority is always the patients, but staff should not have to accept any abuse.”