UK -- A nurse who quit her job after being kicked by a patient last night welcomed the sentence imposed on her attacker - saying assaults on hospital staff should not be tolerated.
The 28-year-old, who worked as a bank nurse at Colchester General Hospital for 12 years, told of the trauma and injuries suffered in the incident - which temporarily left her unable to pick up her young child.
Mrs Rice said: “The attack left me winded and bruised. The woman hit me on the shoulder, knocking me to the ground, and then kicked me in the knee.
The wife of a paramedic, Mrs Rice revealed the attack was “the straw that broke the camel's back”.
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Thank you for highlighting this nurse's plight. Here is the press release we issued as the nurse's employer (Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust) in order to get her story more coverage.
Nurse welcomes conviction over hospital assault
A nurse who was hit and kicked by a patient while on duty at Colchester General Hospital has welcomed the conviction of her assailant.
Tracey Rice, a bank nurse, said she has been left so shaken by her ordeal that she will never work on the A&E department again.
The woman who assaulted Mrs Rice was sentenced to a 12-month community order, including 80 hours unpaid work, and made to pay £300 court costs. She was also ordered to pay Mrs Rice £500 in compensation.
Mrs Rice has welcomed the conviction and has spoken out about her ordeal in hope it sends out a strong message that assaults on hospital staff will not be tolerated.
She said: “I am pleased this person has been convicted. It turned out to be an expensive night for her and I hope this case sends out a strong message that this type of behaviour will simply not be tolerated.”
Mrs Rice, a bank nurse for 12 years, has worked at the Colchester General Hospital’s A&E department periodically for the past six years.
She said: “The attack left me winded and bruised. The woman hit me on the shoulder, knocking me to the ground, and then kicked me in the knee.
“This attack was the straw that broke the Camel’s back because I am fed up with
having to deal with drunken and aggressive people. The attack left me very shocked
and it took me six weeks to get back to work.
“The reason I have decided to go public is because I don’t want this to happen to anybody else and I hope this case will make people think twice before they abuse, assault or are aggressive to members of staff in hospitals.
“I don’t want anybody to go through what I have been through, it was a nasty experience.”
Christine Wood, 19, of Chitts Hill, Lexden, Colchester, appeared before the town’s magistrates’ court last week, where she pleaded guilty to assaulting Mrs Rice on June 24, 2006.
The conviction has been welcomed by Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital.
Peter Symkiss, the Trust’s security manager said: “This is not the first time we have successfully prosecuted a member of the public who has acted aggressively towards our staff and we will not hesitate to take similar action if we need to.”
Denise Hagel, the Trust’s Director of Nursing said: “We have a strict ‘zero tolerance’ policy of verbal and physical abuse towards our staff. People should not expect to be able to abuse our staff and get away with it.
“Our Trust is determined to do everything in its power to protect our staff from abuse. Frontline workers, and clinicians in particular, are essential to the health care of the people of north east Essex and abuse like this will not be tolerated.”
Figures revealed by the NHS Security Management Service (SMS) revealed 64 people were prosecuted last year for attacking NHS staff in East Anglia – nine more than 2004/05.
Nationally, there was a 12% increase in the number of prosecutions from 759 to 850 and a fall in the number of assaults by 1,690. This is a significant achievement particularly as violence and abuse showed a year on year increase until 2003 when the NHS SMS was set up.
Hello Paul, and thank's for your update!
It's good to hear that the employer is working to combat the growing (and very often hidden) violence towards health professionals.
Since this is my line of work (conflict management and violence prevention), I have witnessed time and time again how devastating violence of any kind (physical, verbal or otherwise) can be - to the victim/s as well as the workplace.
It could be argued that even the "perpetrator" is a victim in these situations.
It should be noted also that great and lasting results can often times be achieved with proper preventive measures.
Best of luck to you, and again thank you for the update!
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