35,300 NHS Staff Injured At Work

Tens of thousands of NHS staff have been injured at work in recent years but the number is coming down, Scottish health board figures show.

Injuries include physical violence, assaults with a weapon, staff knocked unconscious, punctures with dirty needles and bites - including animal bites, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats show.

They also include incidents involving biohazards, electric shocks, burns, crushing injuries, injuries by flying or falling objects, scratches, lacerations, dislocated limbs, fractures, infections, contact with mucus, sprains, strains, slips, trips and falls.

There were 35,372 reported injuries between 2011 and 2013, although figures dropped from over 12,400 a year to 10,529 in 2013.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume said: Whilst our health boards operate vigorous accident reporting and prevention systems we know that accidents can occur because of potentially unsafe behaviour or conditions.

Our figures have shown that NHS staff in Scotland suffered over 35,000 injuries whilst at work over the past three years.

These include injuries from needles, stress, and slips, trips and falls.

It is worrying that violence against staff also remains a high cause of injury, with NHS Lothian reporting 370 incidents where a member of staff has been bitten.

Injuries such as slips, trips and falls are always preventable.

SNP mismanagement of our NHS has led to stressful conditions, under-staffing and lack of capacity in our hospitals only adding to pressures felt by health boards.

There is never an excuse to cut corners and health boards must do everything within their power to ensure staff are appropriately trained to prevent accidents.

But SNP ministers must make life more manageable for health boards by alleviating the pressure they have heaped upon them in recent years.

Injuries come at great cost to the running of our hospitals, but more importantly they can cost lives. Ministers must work with health boards to reduce these injuries.''