Student nurse let down after case dropped by PPS

A student nurse said she feels unsafe after being attacked on shift and the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) dropped her case.

Katie, a 20-year-old student nurse, said she thought the patient “was going to kill” her by strangulation on a night shift at Craigavon Area Hospital in August.

The PPS said it understood this was a “deeply distressing incident” and it recognises its decision not to prosecute is “disappointing” – and its decision was taken only after the most “careful consideration” of available evidence and legal issues.

Katie was helping a male patient get back into bed and he grabbed her by the back of her neck and tried to push her to the floor.

“I was trying to scream and I couldn’t make any noise because he was squeezing so hard – I couldn’t breathe,” she told BBC’s the Nolan Show.

“I had my legs spread out a bit so he wasn’t able to get me down – I said ‘please let go of me’ but they tried again to push me down,” she said.

Then Katie said he put his hand around her neck.

“It was mostly his thumb and that part of your hand (palm) and the rest of his fingers around the side of my neck.

“I was trying to scream and I couldn’t make any noise because he was squeezing so hard – I couldn’t breathe.

“In my head I was thinking ‘he’s going to kill me’,” she added.

It was only after a healthcare assistant screamed out that help arrived.

The PPS initially said it would prosecute the case but later decided that the defendant’s medical condition meant a conviction was unlikely.

The PPS informed Katie of its decision by letter. As a result, she said she is unable to sleep.

“When I was told the PPS was going to prosecute – I didn’t feel anxious about going to work anymore – or going on to studying.”

But after being informed that the PPS had dropped the case, she felt let down.

“He’s not going to get in trouble for trying to kill me – I am nervous coming to work, I haven’t been sleeping, I feel really let down.”

The patient had been in a mental health ward before being discharged to the ward Katie was working on.

“In my handover I was told mental health had discharged him that morning and they didn’t see that they could help him anymore – that he didn’t need their help – the family was coming in the next morning for the conversation that he needs to go home.”

Katie said the PPS determined the patient had been delirious, but she can’t understand why he would have been discharged if he was not well enough.

“He was discharged and deemed compos mentis [of sound mind]. He was seen by other staff and other people – I don’t understand.”

The PPS said it understood this was a “deeply distressing incident” and recognises its decision not to prosecute is “disappointing” for Katie but said it can assure her that assurances were taken only after the most “careful consideration” of available evidence and legal issues.

Katie said the attack and the decision not to prosecute has left her questioning her career.

“It’s just playing over and over in my head – I have a career ahead of me where someone could do this and nothing will be done about it – it’s a very big deterrent.”

The Southern Trust – in a statement – said that security porters receive “specialist training in managing and responding to incidents within our Emergency Departments” and wear body-worn cameras.

The Trust added that emergency department (ED) staff also receive training outlined by the Department of Health’s Violence and Aggression framework.

The Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland said “employers have a duty of care to provide a safe working environment where nurses feel that incidents will be dealt with quickly and robustly, and those who have been attacked will be fully supported.”

It said attacks on nurses are a “serious problem” adding that it worked with the DoH in forming the Violence and Aggression framework – which is “welcomed” and said it was essential that the department and health service employers “fulfil their responsibilities – and duty of care” owed to staff.