INMO warns of rise of assaults on nurses in Irish hospitals

The number is rising.

The President of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is warning of a rise in assaults on nurses after new figures showed that seven nurses a week are being assaulted in Irish hospitals. Noting that overcrowding is causing "adverse reactions", new figures show, given to Sinn Fein’s health spokesman David Cullinane, show that 5,672 incidents of physical, verbal and sexual assault have been reported in each hospital from January 2021 to March 2022. Speaking to the Dáil on Thursday, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said that these figures are “intolerable” and raise “real concerns.” The figures show that 3,416 nurses reported being assaulted over 14 months, with Cullinane saying that an Emergency Department plan is needed to increase in-patient bed capacity. He told the Irish Mirror: “There can be absolutely no justification whatsoever for attacks or assaults against frontline healthcare workers. “We need to have robust protections in place in hospitals and adopt a zero-tolerance approach to assaults. “We also need to recognise that hospital overcrowding is in part adding to the number of assaults." INMO chief Karen McGowan said that overcrowding and these assaults have been discussed at the unions’ annual conference in Co Sligo this week. Speaking to RTE, she said it is “no surprise” that there has been an increase in these assaults.