The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for increased security in hospitals nationwide after new figures revealed that the majority of assaults against healthcare staff in June involved nurses.

Figures provided to Sinn Féin in response to a parliamentary question showed that there were 263 assaults on healthcare workers last month, 61% of which involved nurses.

According to the INMO, this equates to an average of at least five assaults on nurses every day during June. These include physical, verbal and sexual assaults.

While the figures were described as “unacceptable” by INMO general secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, she noted that they are “unfortunately not news to our union”.

She said that overcrowding, Covid-related restrictions and poor staffing levels have all added to this problem and nurses “are facing the brunt of physical and verbal aggression in hospitals”.

“In some cases, our members are victims of career-ending assaults. Anecdotally we know that many nurses and midwives do not report many of the incidents that take place in our hospitals because they do not have support to do so,” she noted.

The INMO has called for adequate security to be put in place across all areas of hospital campuses.

“This is a basic need that is not fulfilled in every hospital. While we see high levels of assaults in our emergency departments (EDs), we need to have 24-hour security in all areas of hospitals, not just EDs. Many assaults are occurring in parts of hospitals where security staff are not available,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha pointed out.

She insisted that at this stage, “soothing words from employers and acknowledgement of the scale of the problem is not enough”.

“In the last year, 90% of our members reported being mentally exhausted during or after work. Inadequate safety protections only add to burnout. Nurses and midwives need hospital management to use the powers they have to support staff and make complaints to Gardaí. Zero tolerance is required and that is not the case at present,” she said.

The INMO also called on the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to play a bigger role in this issue. It noted that last year, the HSA recorded 7,477 inspections, however only 446 of these took place in health and social care settings compared to 2,865 in construction.

“There must be more inspections and prosecutions of employers who fail to keep staff safe. There must be a dedicated division established within the HSA to deal directly with the health service. Hospitals are not just places of care, they are workplaces. We need to know what measures are being put in place to protect a largely female work force,” Ms Ní Sheaghdha added.