A nurse was hospitalised with head and neck injuries after being attacked in the A&E department of Dublin's St Vincent's Hospital.
The attack, by a male patient who was waiting to be seen, occurred on Tuesday evening, but details only emerged yesterday when the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) called for an independent investigation into how this could have happened.
The nurse, according to INO industrial relations officer Philip McAnenly, was badly beaten and traumatised.
"The aggressor lifted her by the hair clean off the ground, penned her against the wall and repeatedly struck her with his fists."
He said the nurse had only been a few months in the State having been recruited from India. The management of the hospital had given assurances that undercover security personnel were employed to protect staff in the event of such an attack but none was present.
A statement from the hospital management said a full investigation was being carried out into the "highly-regrettable and totally unacceptable incident".
"Triage was carried out within six minutes of the patient's arrival. Our preliminary findings indicate that the incident was not predictable."
It said the nurse was detained for observation overnight, and was discharged the following morning. The management was not aware of any criminal investigation in relation to the incident.
"Management has been in ongoing contact with the nurses working in the emergency department (ED) and regard the statement made by the INO as not reflecting the nurses' views.
"The nurses in the ED have not raised any concerns regarding overall safety arising from this incident, and staff security has not been raised as an issue in recent times within the robust industrial relations mechanisms that are in place at the hospital."