by Louise Doyle

THE HSE has said ensuring the safety of employees is their top priority, as we can reveal there were 175 reported attacks on nurses at Letterkenny University Hospital in under three years.

Figures released to this newspaper through a request under the Freedom of Information Act show that as of July 15 this year, there were more attacks on nurses (58) than in the entirety of 2023, when 56 attacks were reported.

Sixty-one attacks on nurses were reported in 2024.

According to the figures, direct physical assault has accounted for the majority of attacks, at 61 in all, from 2023 to July 15, 2025.

Over the same time-frame, there has been 28 reports of verbal assault and 25 of verbal harassment.

Unintentional aggressive behaviour has accounted for 22 reported assaults.

Fourteen reports of threats/intimidation were made against nurses at LUH from 2023 to July 15, 2025, according to the figures.

Non-compliant, obstructive and rude accounted for 10 attacks in just under the three-year period.

Eight attacks on LUH nurses under the category of physical harassment have been reported from July 2023 to July 15, 2025.

Two sexual harassment attacks and two attacks of a discrimination/prejudice/racial nature have been recorded in the same time-frame.

We provided the HSE with the figures we obtained, and asked them what measures are in place to ensure the safety of nurses.

In a statement, a HSE spokesperson said: “Ensuring the safety of employees and service users is a priority for the HSE. We are committed to creating a safe environment within which to work or to be treated.

“The HSE continues to emphasise the management of work-related aggression and violence to support our strategy and the HSE Policy on the Prevention and Management of Work-Related Aggression and Violence.”

Focus areas are: A review of the national policy on the management of work-related aggression and violence; risk assessment and training.

The spokesperson added: “Staff are encouraged to report all “near misses” and incidents – even those that do not result in harm.

Hence, the number of incident reports should not be considered as indicative of a level of harm. There may also be multiple reports relating to the same incident.

“The HSE has long been proactive in encouraging staff to report all incidents and directing managers to review all incidents. This is enshrined in the HSE Corporate Safety Statement, the HSE Policy on the Prevention and Management of Work-Related Aggression and Violence and the HSE Incident Management Framework and Guidance 2020. In 2015, the NIMS system was introduced by the State Claims Agency. This requires all incidents to be reported through a national, centralised system and will ultimately improve the quality of the data.”

If a HSE staff member has been the victim of an assault, the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) makes counselling available.

“A staff member using the EAP service will initially be offered up to six sessions. However, the type of counselling delivered and the length of counselling is dependent upon how the staff member has been impacted by the assault and is assessed in each case. This may include trauma counselling,” said the spokesperson.