THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said overcrowding in Cork hospitals has created a “hostile environment” where frontline workers are left to deal with patient frustrations.

The organisation has welcomed moves by the Government to increase the maximum penalty for assaulting nurses, midwives, and other frontline workers.

The Government has agreed to increase the maximum sentence for those convicted of assault on hospital staff, prison officers, members of the fire brigade, ambulance workers, and members of the Defence Forces.

The changes will see such incidents carry a maximum sentence of 12 years, increasing from seven years. The INMO’s assistant director of human relations in Cork and Kerry, Colm Porter, said: “The level of overcrowding that’s currently in the acute hospitals across Cork, we saw record-breaking numbers of people on trolleys only a number of weeks ago, all of this has created a hostile environment.

“Unfortunately, it is the nurses and midwives who are the ones that tend to get the brunt of that frustration from patients but in saying that, there’s no excuse to ever assault a nurse or midwife, but the environment that they’re working in creates that.”

The proposal brought forward by Justice Minister Simon Harris will amend the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, covering incidents where gardaí and emergency workers are assaulted or obstructed on duty.

Mr Porter said: “You’re seeing over 10 nurses endure some kind of assault — be that physical, verbal or sexual assault — every day, so the fact that this legislation has come in to increase the sentencing for any kind of assault against frontline workers is absolutely welcome by the union.” He added that there should be “a zero-tolerance approach” to any assault, regardless of the nature of the assault, against nurses or midwives.

“We also need to see hospital management locally realise those powers and supporting staff to make complaints to gardaí,” he told The Echo.

He said the number one priority for nurses and midwives is to provide safe, high-quality care and that unfortunately, the environment they’re currently working in “is having an impact on that”.

“People should be very cognisant of that and that although they have frustrations with the system, it’s completely unacceptable to take that out on nurses and midwives who are doing their very best to deliver the highest possible care regardless of the situation,” Mr Porter said.

INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that while the INMO welcomes this latest move by Minister Harris, that legislative protection by itself “is not enough”.

“The Health and Safety Authority needs to play an enhanced role in tackling assaults of nurses.

“There must be more inspections, 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.

“This is an ask the INMO has put directly to government and the Authority itself.

“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 workforce,” she said.