Horror as A&E nurse attacked

Nov 19 2008 by David Wynn, East Kilbride News

A NURSE at Hairmyres Hospital was stabbed in the chest by a patient who went berserk in the accident and emergency unit.

The attacker also hurled an oxygen cylinder at another patient and was only stopped when police used CS Spray.

The injured 49-year-old nursing sister needed treatment for a small wound under her left breast and was left traumatised by the incident, which happened late last Thursday night.

It is understood the attacker was a 53-year-old in-patient who had to attend A&E to have a chest drain inserted.

The nurse was stabbed with a trocar – a surgical tool used to open up chest walls – as she tried to stop the man removing the drain.

Police officers who were at the hospital on an unrelated matter restrained the attacker using CS spray and he was given further treatment.

East Kilbride Police this week confirmed an incident had taken place where a nurse received a ‘minor’ injury, but stressed that no complaint had been made.

An NHS spokesman said: "We can confirm there was an incident at Hairmyres Hospital on Thursday night and that police were involved.

“Unfortunately there are extremely rare circumstances where patients become aggressive and we would like to stress that NHS Lanarkshire has a zero tolerance policy towards any act of violence - whether physical or verbal - which takes place within our hospitals.

“We encourage staff to record all incidents and have robust procedures in place to ensure that support is provided to our staff as soon as possible."

East Kilbride MSP Andy Kerr, the former Health Minister, said: “Clearly our first thoughts must be with the nurse involved, however, incidents like these make my and many other people’s blood boil.

“Here we have people doing their best to help others and there should be no tolerance of those who would seek to injure them in their line of duty.”

Councillor Graham Simpson, whose ward covers Hairmyres, told the News: “This was a shocking incident. NHS staff deserve to go about their work without the fear of being assaulted but, sadly, this is all too-frequent an occurrence.

“I am just relieved that police were on hand to contain something which could have turned out to be even more serious than it was.

“It is important the courts show no mercy over incidents like this.”