A nurse who was severely injured and developed PTSD after being assaulted by a patient has joined the nurses' strike to demand better pay and support for her colleagues, who also put their wellbeing at risk every day. Caroline Gibbs, 46, had to move to a completely different job and hasn't been able to work on a ward or see her old colleagues since the incident in 2016 and says other nurses shouldn't have to go through the same.
Nurses are walking out in a row over pay in Wales for the first time in history, with a second strike day planned for December 20. Nurses from all but one of Wales' health boards have joined the strike, with picket lines all across the Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
On the picket line outside University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, Ms Gibbs told WalesOnline: "I was seriously assaulted by a patient who basically pulled me so hard it damaged all the muscles in my spine. I nearly lost my job through it.
READ MORE: Nurses go on strike in Wales for the first time
"I wasn't able to do my old job, working on the stroke ward as a deputy sister. I had to go through a redeployment process which comes with a risk of termination."
Ms Gibbs suffered severe physical injuries and PTSD after the assault. After years in the NHS, having qualified as a nurse in 1998, she had to take 15 months off after her injury and was told she might never work as a nurse again.
She claims that she was given 12 weeks to find another job, a part of the redeployment system which she says needs to be changed. She was left unable to drive and still struggles with heavy lifting and household tasks.
"But I'm pretty stubborn," she said, "and I'm not very good at being told what I can't do." After her experience, she's convinced that nurses need better terms and conditions.
After her injury, Ms Gibbs went privately to see pain and trauma consultants, and to get MRI scans. She needed up to eight injections at a time just for her pain, and now has to take about 25 painkillers every day to work.
She now works in occupational health, dealing with nurses who are off sick and trying to find them the best support she can. She sees the sharp end of the mental and physical pain that nurses deal with every day.
"What I went through is not something people should expect when they go into nursing," she said, "and I am not the first person to have serious consequences.
"We don't come into this to be assaulted. We don't come into this to be verbally abused, which happens a lot.
"I've got the double whammy - the mental and the physical health. I have seen multiple people who have been assaulted and who have had issues with PTSD, anxiety, physical issues, and other people like me who have unfortunately had both.
"We come into this to look after people. I can understand the public's frustration when they're waiting long times in A&E, their appointments are cancelled and they have to pay privately.
"These nurses need to be paid properly. When, a few months ago, they were giving out information about foodbanks, that was just an insult.
"My colleagues are all amazing. A lot of them couldn't afford to strike today... there's single parents and people who are carers for their families."
For Ms Gibbs, the RCN's demands are essential - not just for nurses as individuals, but for the impact that low staffing levels have on the NHS. She said: "These girls and boys are working to the bone.
"They're staying late, they're coming in early, just to keep people safe. A colleague of mine has been in hospital last week and saw it from a different perspective - the staffing levels are atrocious."
Ms Gibbs is full of praise for her husband, who's supported her since the assault, and to her sister and dad. She also wanted to say thank you to her manager, whose only concern when she said she was going on strike was that she stayed warm in the freezing temperatures on the picket line.
Although she's on the road to recovery, Ms Gibbs wants the wider public to realise the pain that nurses can go through. She said: "This has changed my life, completely.
"I've had to move house, and even though I can walk and I don't look like I've got a disability... ice terrifies me, because I don't want to fall over and get worse.
"It doesn't stop me going anywhere with the family but I can't do lifting, I struggle to do housework and it's just impacted my life in every way. The one thing I miss the most is going on rollercoasters with my 14-year-old son.
"I absolutely love my job in occupational health, and I love looking after the staff. I'm still undergoing trauma therapy, because it retriggered when I was asked to go and work on the site where the injury happened... I had a little bit of a freak out."
"I couldn't cope with seeing my colleagues, so it's just like being ripped from your job and your colleagues in a day, which was a massive loss. One of my favourite things about nursing used to be bathing and washing the hair of patients - giving them a nice spruce up. I really miss that."
Ms Gibbs' chiropractor asked her recently if she'd choose to be a nurse, if she had her time again. She said yes - but, she added, it was the first time she had to really give it some thought.
You can keep up with the latest information on the nurses' strike on our live blog. Nurses on the picket line have been keen to point out that they're not putting patients at risk because adequate strike cover has been organised - but that long-term staffing issues caused by underpaying nurses will harm the quality of care that patients receive.
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