AN irate mother lashed out at a pair of nurses during a rampage over the breakfast served to her daughter at a Marbella hospital.
The two nurses were working in the pediatric ward of the Costa del Sol Hospital when the attack happened on Tuesday (December 14).
It is understood the staff nurses were assaulted by the mother of a young patient in a row over the breakfast provisions at the hospital.
The furious mother is said to have hurled a torrent of abuse at the hospital workers, threatening ‘to kill’ in the violent outbreak.
Union bosses’ said staff first became aware of the problem when the patient’s mother slated the breakfast offered for free to family members at the hospital.
Speaking on behalf of the SATSE Nursing Union, Alberto Ortega then said tensions rose further when the mum asked the hospital staff to take her daughter to the cafeteria on her behalf. When the nurses refused the woman began to yell.
Ortega said: “The woman began to shout that the coffee was bad, that the bread was stale, despite this being something that has nothing to do with the nurses.
“The woman became more and more animated, insulting and yelling at the staff.
“At one point she even yelled: ‘If I catch you in the street, I’m going to kill you’.
“She even had her hand raised to hit the nurse, but another nurse got in the way and prevented it.”
Hospital security were immediately alerted to the violent rampage and the National Police were called to the scene.
Union officials have condemned the attack and warned that escalating violence and aggression towards nurses is having a ‘catastrophic’ effect on staff wellbeing.
Ortega said: “The safety of staff is our priority. We have a strict zero tolerance stance towards violence and aggression against our nurses who are entitled to work free of threats, assaults and intimidation.
“In incidents where a member of staff has been assaulted, we always provide appropriate legal support.”
Ortega hit out at management, claiming the rise in violence during the pandemic was due to understaffed wards.
He said: “The lack of staff is caused by the deficient management who have stopped renewing hundreds of nurses’ contracts and as a result do not have the personnel to cover the shifts of the Christmas holidays.”
He added that the pressure on staff in hospitals had ‘skyrocketed’ during the coronavirus outbreak, which is causing an increase in the episodes of violence against nurses in hospitals.
“We cannot allow this to continue,” Ortega said. “We currently work with the lowest ratio of nurses to patients in Europe and that is why violence is happening.”
He added that the understaffing and pressure on nurses was so serious ‘staff and patients are at genuine risk of serious injury or long-term damage to their health and well-being’.
This morning the Costa del Sol Health Agency held an emergency meeting following the attacks.
The agency, which represents the Costa del Sol Hospital, as well as hospitals in Benalmadena, Mijas and Estepona, said they ‘firmly condemn all times of aggression, whether physical or verbal , against the professionals at their centers’.
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