The number of criminal incidents being carried out in hospitals across the country have dramatically increased, new figures have revealed.
A total of 1,052 cases were reported to gardai so far this year compared to 862 last year – an increase of 190 incidents. It is understood the vast majority of cases are physical attacks and abuse against nurses, doctors, porters and security staff. A handful of cases entail fighting between rival patients waiting to be treated,
Although the figures don’t reveal where exactly most of the attacks took place in the hospitals, gardai privately admit the biggest number by far are occurring in the Accident and Emergency wards. Booze and drugs are blamed for the vast majority of the incidents.
