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'Action needed' to protect nurses | 'Action needed' to protect nurses |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Scotland's nurses need better protection from violence and aggression, representatives claim. | |
The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has launched a campaign urging MSPs and employers to tackle the problem. | |
The union, which said a third of nurses would be attacked during their career, aims to make the issue a political priority before next year's election. | |
Health Minister Andy Kerr said he would remind health chiefs that staff had the right to work in safety. | |
At its conference in Clydebank, the RCN has insisted that staff have the right to expect their employers to take action against those who attack them. | |
Local level | |
Nursing leaders have called on all the political parties to make better protection of staff in the health service a priority. | |
The RCN Scotland board's chairwoman, Jane McCready, said it had received "worrying" reports about some managers discouraging staff from reporting attacks. | |
Mr Kerr denied that such a culture existed and said he had made it clear that incidents had to be taken seriously. | |
"What worries me most is the assertion that management aren't dealing with it at local level and that is unacceptable," he told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme. | |
All nurses will be affected by violence and aggression at some stage in their career Jane McCreadyRCN Scotland | |
"I will again make that clear to our chief executives and chairs that any member of staff has the right to work in a violence-free environment. | |
"We need to do our utmost to protect them and if something happens it is our job to ensure that we take action and learn any lessons that can be learned." | |
The minister said he shared the RCN's view that patients' relatives who were drunk should not be allowed in to hospitals if it was thought they might cause trouble. | |
Ms McCready said all healthcare workers had the right to do their job without fear of abuse. | |
'Huge' impact | |
"All nurses will be affected by violence and aggression at some stage in their career," she said. | |
"One in three will be attacked themselves, while their colleagues will have witnessed these incidents and may have had to come to their aid. This cannot be allowed to continue." | |
She said attacks had a "huge" impact, with some people leaving the profession altogether. | |
"Those who remain often have to deal with staff shortages while the person who has been attacked is receiving treatment or is off work," Ms McCready added. | |
"Such high levels of sickness absence and the loss of staff will inevitably have an impact on patient care." |