The personnel at the Tacoronte Health Centre in Tenerife have once again been the target of an assault attempt by a patient last Monday, as reported by the Nursing Union, SATSE, which demands that necessary measures be implemented promptly to ensure professionals can perform their duties in a secure environment.
SATSE elaborates that this latest incident of violence transpired around 11:30 a.m. when individuals awaiting treatment in the Health Centre’s waiting area began to hear screams and the sounds of objects being hurled to the ground.
Thanks to the swift response of the healthcare workers, the patient was subdued and prevented from leaving the consultation room, thus averting any potential attack on them or on those remaining in the waiting area.
The union organisation emphasises the urgent necessity to enforce safety measures within Primary Care facilities, stating that “had it not been for the prompt actions of healthcare professionals, we might have been mourning more than just material damage.”
SATSE has already cautioned that such incidents are likely to recur unless immediate measures, like a 24-hour security presence at the Health Centre, are put in place. “It is intolerable for nurses to confront situations as perilous as this while fulfilling their duties,” they assert.
SATSE expresses concern that these weeks have been particularly challenging for healthcare professionals, as aside from the recent incident, a nurse at the Hospital Insular de Gran Canaria was assaulted a few weeks ago. Earlier this year, attempted assaults were also reported in the emergency services of the Puerto de la Cruz health facility.
Assaults
The Union reports that assaults on healthcare personnel by patients are becoming increasingly prevalent, encompassing both verbal and non-verbal forms of aggression, and occur in both Primary Care centres and hospitals, particularly within emergency services. “Some colleagues who have experienced such situations admit they go to work with trepidation and acknowledge they are unprepared to face such distressing encounters again.”
Once again, SATSE condemns the rise in both physical and verbal assaults against nurses within the Canarian Health Service (SCS) during their professional duties, escalating from 86 attacks in 2022 to 153 in 2023—a nearly 78 percent increase.
According to statistics supplied by the SCS at the behest of SATSE, attacks on healthcare workers in the Canary Islands have surged by 45%, increasing from 296 incidents in 2022 (18 physical, 243 verbal, and 35 mixed) to 431 in 2023 (32 physical, 321 verbal, and 78 mixed). For SATSE, the actual figure may be even higher, considering that in many instances, assaults go unreported.