Ms Phil N? Sheaghdha:

We are very happy to address the committee and thank it for the invitation. I will share my time with Ms Sylvia Chambers, who is a working nurse in an emergency department in one of the large Dublin hospitals. We have made a written submission and we would like to bring the committee's attention to two main points within that submission. First is the number of assaults. In the appendix we have detailed the latest statistics from the HSE, which set out the number of assaults against staff. Unfortunately, there were 5,593 reported assaults against nursing and midwifery staff in the period between January 2021 and October 2022. I emphasise that that is an under-reporting because these statistics only relate to what the HSE collates. They do not cover the section 38 organisations, which are the large voluntary hospitals, psychiatry or a lot of community services where we know the incidents of assault are much higher.

We are quite disappointed in the reaction we have received from the Health and Safety Authority. We have lobbied it extensively and met it on a number of occasions. We are seeking a greater role for it in the inspection and prosecution of health service employers when it comes to assaults. In our submission we set out the comparisons between its investigation and its work in construction and manufacturing, which is very good and has served the workers in those industries well. We believe the health service is not viewed by the Health and Safety Authority, or indeed by the Government, as an employment location. It is viewed largely for the job it does, that is, caring, but it is one of the largest employers in the State. The statutory body with responsibility for keeping workers safe must be strengthened and must have a stronger role in that regard, considering the number of assaults that are now being recorded.

Ms Chambers will set out what it is like for a nurse. Her testimony is typical of what we are hearing regularly from our members who work not just in emergency departments but increasingly on wards and in community areas right across from paediatrics to maternity to the general hospital services. We would ask the committee to look seriously at the provisions of the Health and Safety Authority and look at strengthening its responsibility in respect of workers' health and safety, as well as the connection between poor staffing, overcrowded hospitals and increased assaults. All of that evidence is in our submission and we are happy to give any further details that are required. There is no doubt but that poor staffing levels and overcrowded hospitals lead to situations that can be avoided. Public hospitals in this country are operating at a level of about 110% or 111% occupancy when the safety level is 82%. We are too slow with Sláintecare and we are still completely reliant on the public hospital. That, unfortunately, falls on the front-line workers to deal with.