Editorial: Medics often in danger

Hospital staff are often abused while working.

Luckily I've never needed to go to hospital for anything too major, but the few times I have been to a hospital the staff have been amazing.

It takes a special kind of person to decide they want to have a career where they are helping others.

Emergency service staff, and I include doctors and nurses in this category, see people who are often at their lowest point in life, or who are in excruciating pain.

They don't judge you or your situation, they just do whatever they can to make you better.

Considering the fact that medical professionals are just trying to help people, it is concerning to find out that hundreds of Bay of Plenty hospital staff have been attacked by patients and visitors while they were working.

Injuries ranged from minor bruising and shock to broken limbs and black eyes.

In the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend it was revealed there had been 875 attacks on staff at Tauranga and Whakatane hospitals by patients and visitors since 2010, including 67 this year.

However, the figures did not include verbal attacks on hospital staff. If it did, I'm sure the number would be much higher.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation professional adviser Suzanne Rolls said nurses were often assaulted at work and it was unacceptable that there were so many cases.

Assaults on staff in 2011 prompted the placement of a security guard in the emergency department during high-risk times.

Tauranga Hospital emergency department clinical lead Dr Derek Sage said staff were subject to a range of levels of abuse while working.

"At the bottom end of the scale there is the use of aggressive tone or language. Then there are actual threats and beyond that is following through on those threats and striking staff," Mr Sage said.

Hospital workers should not be afraid for their safety. Not only are they doing their job, they are providing a valuable community service and it is a shame some people think it is okay to attack hospital staff.

Would you appreciate that in your place of work? Would you still want to help someone who was aggressive towards you?

I don't think it would be too much to ask for a safe working environment, especially considering the hours and dedication put in by those in the medical profession.