Abuse against nurses in Sussex's busiest A&E departments more than triples in five years
A Freedom of Information Request from the Royal College of Nursing has revealed over 250 incidents were reported last year - versus just over 60 in 2019
There's been a huge spike in violence against nurses in Sussex's busiest A&E departments, says the Royal College of Nursing.
An FOI request to hospital trusts across Sussex revealed there were more than 250 incidents in 2024 - up from just over 60 in 2019.
The worst affected were those beneath the University Hospitals Sussex NHS trust - rising from 29 to 135 over the five year period.
Surrey and Sussex NHS Healthcare Trust rose from 21 to 82, while East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust increased from 24 to 35.
Ellen McNicholas, the Royal College of Nursing's South East regional director, said it can be linked to underfunding:
"Anybody who's in an accident and emergency department isn't there because they want to be there.
"They're there because something has happened to them and that makes people scared and anxious and apprehensive.
"And when we are scared and anxious and apprehensive, we do behave out of character.
"It's human nature.
"I think unfortunately, with the lack of investment in the NHS, the lack of safe staffing, mandated safe staffing numbers and the shortage of nursing workforce and other professions, it has made A&E quite a scary place to be.
"All of those ambulances queuing, you know, we hear about corridor care."
She continued:
"Absolutely no nurse goes to work to be assaulted, or to give patients less than fabulous care.
"But unfortunately the pressure sometimes results in that.
"And I think the solution to it is for the government to do more about properly funding our NHS and about properly rewarding nursing staff for the valuable job that they do and thinking about legislating minimum staffing numbers to manage patients safely."