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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Shaun Keenan

Public anger after Derry hospital staff experience 'abuse and harrassment'

The Western Health and Social Care Trust has asked that its staff continued to be respected amid a rise in the number of abuse and harassment complaints.

The Trust, which serves areas in Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh, said it had a zero-tolerance policy toward abuse on their staff across the board.

However, despite previous warnings, the health body said that frontline staff had experienced a spike the 'shocking and disgraceful' behaviour.

Read more: Tributes paid to 'compassionate and loving' Derry priest

Taking to social media, the Western Trust said: "For anyone attending any Western Trust hospital or facility, we ask that you please respect our staff and the guidance they give you at all times.

"There have been incidents where our staff have received abuse and harassment and we would ask everyone to please refrain from such behaviour and remind everyone that we operate a Zero Tolerance policy towards abuse across our Trust."

The post sparked a frenzy of anger, with one writing: Abusing staff should not be tolerated, they are doing an excellent job to help people and underpaid, Zero tolerance for any person doing so..

Another woman, who had taken her son to a Western Trust hospital twice within the last few weeks, said that staff do a 'wonderful job'.

"It's irritating when you see staff taking abuse and people wasting their time people with critical conditions are held up," she wrote. "Keep up the great work and thanks for the great service."

Meanwhile, the warning comes after almost 700 incidents of abuse and attacks were reported in the last 12 months on Northern Ireland Ambulance Service staff.

Freedom of Information figures obtained by Belfast Live showed 684 attacks on staff between July 2021 and July 2022. These incidents included verbal, physical, psychological and sexual forms of abuse.

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