INMO call for 'zero tolerance' approach to verbal or physical abuse to nurses
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called on the government to adopt a 'zero tolerance' approach to anyone who verbally or physically abuses a nurse,
The INMO Annual Delegate Conference, which is taking place in the INEC in Killarney this week, today heard of one Cork nurse who has not worked for two years having been assaulted by a patient.
"The female patient pushed the nurse to the ground, and as she fell she hit her back and neck against a transport trolley. The nurse sustained very serious injuries both to her back and neck, and emotional trauma," Margaret Frahill of the INMO Executive Council told delegates this morning.
"This nurse has suffered greatly, is in constant pain, and is having weekly reviews with a physiotherapist and pain specialist. The nurse has not worked since and is not likely to work again for a very long time.
"She is married with children and her life has changed totally, and so has her family's. The only support available to this nurse now is to fight for her rights and entitlement through the civil courts," Ms Frahill said.
Proposing a motion that the INMO adopts a zero policy approach to assaults, Martin O'Cealleagh highlighted legislation in Australia that sentences anyone found guilty of assaulting a nurse to up to 14 years in prison.
There was a unanimous show of hands from the floor when Mr O'Cealleagh asked how many delegates had experienced verbal or physical assault in the workplace, but less than half kept their arms raised when asked if they either reported the incident or know how to go about doing so.
"We don't have the knowledge base to appropriately address the violence being directed at us. We need that support and those structures in place," Mr O'Cealleagh said.
Speaking in the same session, Madeline Spiers, who unsuccessfully contested the election for the Seanad Labour panel on behalf of the INMO, told delegates that members are also coming under pressure from senior nurses for assisting the INMO's "trolleywatch" initiative, where the organisation collates information on the number of patients waiting on trolleys as a measurement of overcrowding.
"Trolleywatch has taken what has gone on in our hospitals from the dark and brought it into the light," Ms Spiers said.
"And yet there are still senior nursing staff who will turn around and say 'if I find out who is phoning the INMO trolleywatch, they will face disciplinary proceedings'. What does that say about our senior nursing staff?" she asked.
