Patient assaults four workers in emergency department at Hospital Costa del Sol

The concerning rise in patients being violent towards staff at Hospital Costa del Sol continues with another incident occurring last week at the Marbella health facility, the eighth case in just this year.

In the latest case, a patient apparently assaulted a nurse, two auxiliary nurses and a porter, as well as throwing medical equipment to the ground in the hospital’s critical care unit on Friday 16 June.

The incident, which was reported by the hospital, required the intervention of the police, who arrested the man. The attack allegedly took place at the moment when he was about to undergo a PCR test, to which he reacted violently.

According to sources, the suspect was on a stretcher when he began to make gestures with his hands and started throwing equipment within his reach, striking the medical staff.

Security guards quickly intervened when they heard the screams in the emergency room and restrained the man until police arrived. According to the hospital, the victims of the attack suffered bruising, and have been offered psychological care and legal advice.

On Monday 19 June healthcare staff gathered at the doors of the outpatients’ department of the Hospital Costa del Sol, and at the main entrance to the CARE hospital in Mijas and the Hospital de Alta Resolución in Estepona, where they held a minute’s silence to condemn the aggression towards health professionals.

Trade union UGT Costa del Sol also denounced a recent spate of attacks on health workers at the same hospital. Since the start of the year and up to 31 May, there were a total of seven incidents, three of them physical, three verbal, and the seventh, an attempted physical attack.