407 physical assaults on Daisy Hill staff

OVER 400 incidents of physical assault upon staff at Daisy Hill have been recorded since the start of 2020.

The shocking statistic was detailed in a response issued by the health minister Mike Nesbitt to a question tabled by DUP MLA Dianne Dodds.

In her query the Upper Bann MLA requested that the health minister provide figures pertaining to the number of physical and verbal attacks upon health care staff broken down by Trust Area.

 Concerningly it was detailed that there were as many as 407 physical attacks upon Daisy Hill staff recorded since the start of 2020  in Minister Nesbitt’s response, with  a total of 10’165 incidents of this nature having taken place throughout the entirety of the Southern Health Trust in this time period.  

Physical assaults

 The year 2022-to 2023 saw the highest recorded level of physical attacks upon staff take place at the hospital, with 102 incidents of this nature having been recorded, with 2021 to 2022 seeing the lowest number at 70.

Across the Southern Health and Social Care Trust as a whole Craigavon Hospital saw the highest rates of physical attacks upon staff with an astounding 5501 incidents of this nature being logged since the start of 2020, with South Tyrone hospital seeing the lowest number of physical attacks upon staff at 165 recorded incidents.

 Overall the Southern Health and Social Care Trust  recorded the second highest level of instances of physical attacks upon staff, with the recorded 10’165 incidents  of this nature being surpassed by the Belfast Health and Social Care  Trusts 21’723

The Western Health and Social Care Trust saw the lowest level of physical assaults on staff with 7’903 incidents of this nature recorded.  

 Verbal assaults

 The answer provided to Dianne Dodds MLA by the health minister also contained information pertaining to the number of instances of verbal harassment inflicted upon staff working at sites across the five Health and Social Care Trusts

However given the apparent ubiquity of verbal harassment against staff being so prolific it is widely speculated that instances of verbal harassment more often or not go unreported.

Thus the data provided in the minister’s answer may not paint the most clearest picture regarding the degree of verbal harassment perpetrated upon those working in the health trusts.

Bearing this in mind the Southern Health and Social Care Trust once again recorded the second highest rate of verbal harassment , with   2’483 incidents of this nature having been documented since the start of 2020, 101 of which took place at Daisy Hill.

Within the Trust itself Craigavon Area Hospital saw the highest recorded rates of verbal harrassment at 1068, with St Luke’s Hospital seeing the lowest recorded rate at 45.

Once again across the entirety of the five Trust areas the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust saw the highest rate of incidents of verbal harrassment at 3’336 with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust recorded the lowest number of incidents of this nature at 1’321