Psychiatric nurses have demanded increased protection as a survey released today shows they were attacked more than 1,250 times last year.
The number of a attacks is an increase of almost 50 per cent on 2001
The report by the Psychiatric Nurses Association on violence against medical staff last year showed nurses were stabbed, bitten, kicked and punched and had bones fractured and teeth knocked out. Weapons used against them included blood-filled syringes, fire extinguishers, pool cues, chairs and crutches.
The study showed 64 nurses took sick leave for more than three days after being assaulted while 38 took more than a week off. Five nurses were off sick for more than six months as a result of an assault while 18 were on sick leave for all of 2005.
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. 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 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.
According to a study in the International Nursing Review, nurses are 16 times more likely to be victims of assault than other workers. In the UK one in three nurses have been victims of violence at work, compared to one in four police officers leading to nursing now being declared the most dangerous profession.
But the PNA said many incidents were not reported due to time constraints, managers playing down the severity of attacks and fear that reporting an attack will reflect badly on a nurse's ability.