CROWDED HOSPITALS CAULDRON OF ABUSE FOR STAFF
‘Pressure-cooker’ environment is leading to seven assaults a day on healthcare workers
HOSPITAL overcrowding is creating a ‘pres- sure-cooker environment’ that has led to an increase in assaults on hospital staff.
Since the beginning of 2021 an average of seven assaults a day are taking place on nurses, with many more incidents going unreported, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The union’s general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said frontline workers ‘are being put at risk for conditions they are not responsible for’. The INMO kicked off its three-day annual conference yesterday. It plans to highlight ‘diabolical’ situations being faced by staff, who are ‘working under severe pressure in an overcrowded health service’ while still dealing with the pandemic.
The union claims this environment is leading to more assaults and it is calling for a full security audit of hospitals nationwide to see exactly what measures are in place to protect frontline
staff. New figures show that healthcare workers faced 5,672 incidents of physical, verbal or sexual assault in the workplace since the beginning of last year.
Of that number, nurses were assaulted 3,416 times from the start of last year to the end of March this year.
A further breakdown of the data shows that 4,763 cases happened in 2021, with 909 up to March 31 of this year.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said many more incidents are going unreported. ‘Our hospitals are not just full, they are overcrowded and this creates a pressure-cooker type environment.
‘With that, frustration can run high and a tiny minority unacceptably attack staff.
‘This means that frontline staff are being put at risk for conditions they are not responsible for.’
She has called on the HSE to set out what measures it will put in place to protect its staff.
‘We need to know what measures
‘It’s absolute misery’
are being put in place to protect a largely female work force. The employer’s remit is to provide a safe workplace,’ said Ms Ní Sheaghdha.
‘We haven’t had a security audit of our hospitals since 2016, it is time now for the HSE to complete a full audit of what measures are in place in each hospital, particularly in emergency departments.’
The data also show that over 143 staff availed of the HSE Serious Physical Assault Scheme in 2021, which entitles workers to six months paid leave following an assault.
In 2019, more than 5,470 healthcare workers were assaulted, according to a parliamentary question by Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond.
This figure stood at 5,314 in 2018 and just over 5,000 in 2017.
At the time, Mr Richmond called for an ‘urgent audit’ of hospital security.
The overcrowding situation that the INMO says contributes to the assaults continued yesterday morning, with 480 patients awaiting a hospital bed, according to the union’s trolley watch.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha said yesterday that overcrowding is probably worse than any other period previously seen, and vowed the INMO will continue to highlight the issue.
‘It is really important because for every single person on a trolley, it is misery, it’s absolute misery and it leads to detrimental outcomes in some cases,’ she said.
‘We have scientific evidence that tells us that the very fact you’re being cared for on a trolley can influence how long you actually live, and that’s just a disgrace.’
She continued: ‘We have nurses here who work in departments who will tell you that you have elderly people who are being cared for for a long period of time, on chairs, on very hard plastic chairs, who are on trolleys. It’s not that they have reduced dignity or reduced privacy, they have no dignity, no privacy, because they are being told about their condition in a corridor, with nothing to prevent the person on the next trolley hearing their full details.’
The INMO conference in Sligo will see delegates debate over 40 motions on topics including providing a safe working environment, the implementation of Sláintecare, and the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector.
The increasing cost of living will also be on the agenda. The union also expects the working hours of nurses to reduce as planned from July 1, after nurses and midwives had worked free extra hours as part of the Haddington Road Agreement.
The agreement states that this date is when the restoration of hours should take effect. Ms Ní Sheaghdha warned there would be consequences if this is not followed through.
‘We’ve made it very clear to the HSE, if there’s any messing on this, that nurses will react. We have worked additional hours for free during possibly the worst time in the health service, and 1st of July is the date on which that ends.’
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is due to address delegates in Sligo tomorrow.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the ongoing presence of Covid-positive patients, the continued requirement to provide separate Covid19 and non-Covid-19 pathways, and staff absences due to Covid are continuing to put pressure on the capacity and operation of EDs across the health system.
She added: ‘The HSE is continuing to utilise capacity in private hospitals and is reviewing elective care to reduce pressure on bed capacity.
‘Investment of €1.1billion was provided in Budget 2021 to expand capacity, increase services and support reform and this level of investment is being maintained in Budget 2022.’
She said a further €77million has been invested in the 2021/22 Winter Plan and, to date, over 800 additional beds have been provided in acute hospitals since the start of 2020.