Social Care Survey – Staff Must Get Proper Training

Who would want to be a social care worker in light of today’s survey on the level of violence they encounter in the workplace?

Alarmingly, out of 85 workers quizzed in the study, only four did not experienced work-related violence in the past year.

This is a damning comment on the failure of the system. It is obvious that lack of up-to-date training is mainly to blame for the fact that so many workers have suffered violent assaults by patients under their care.

While over two-thirds of those questioned were women, it is worth noting that neither the age nor gender of those questioned bore any relevance to the degree of violence experienced.

What counted most was that less than half those questioned had received up-to-date training to prepare them for potential incidents. This underlines the urgent need for the Health Service Executive to accelerate the training of social care professionals for their deeply stressful work.