‘We’re an easy target’: An ER nurse on life on the frontlines of healthcare

JAnice Morgan, an A&E nurse for 12 years, explains what life is like for frontline NHS staff dealing with increasing levels of abuse and aggression. She is an emergency room matron (senior nurse) in the emergency department at Queen’s Medical Center hospital in Nottingham.

“I’ve had three threats to kill me. Men have looked me in the eye and said, “I’m going to kill you,” and I’ve partly believed them.

“Threats of murder are the most extreme form of the aggression, violence and hostility that I and my colleagues in emergency medicine face. But they do happen.

“How do they affect me? That depends on how much bandwidth you have that day. I’ve never left work thinking I wasn’t safe. But there have been a few incidents that have affected me.

“But when that happens, when someone looks you in the eye and tells you they’re going to kill you, a lot of people come down, usually a lot bigger than me – colleagues and security staff – and that makes you feel safer .

“There is a human element to the abuse we receive. People I know have been sick for a long time because of verbal abuse. But physical attacks are likely to have a lasting impact.

“Staff have a level of acceptance of abuse, hostility and the threat of violence that we probably shouldn’t have. That’s because, even if you don’t think it’s part of the job, it has become part of the job.

“We record every time someone is hit, kicked, bitten or scratched where the skin breaks. But if you recorded every time someone cursed at you or was rude to you, that would be a whole other job in itself.

“Unfortunately, the emergency room staff are easy targets because we are here. Although patients cannot always go to their GP, specialist or pharmacy, we are always available, 24/7, 365 days a year.

“Abuse has certainly increased in recent years. Since Covid, many more people are using A&E as the first point of contact when they need care, as there is a feeling that GP services are inaccessible. That has increased our wait times and increased overcrowding, which only leads to more frustration.

“Long wait times in the emergency department (ED) are the main reason why people become frustrated. During the twelve years that I have been here, we have gone from patients who stayed here for less than four hours to patients who sometimes stayed here for more than twelve hours.

“People want things easier now and it’s really hard because we can’t provide them as easily because our emergency department is so busy all the time and often overcrowded. In an ideal world we would see everyone immediately, but that is not possible because it is impossible.

“If you are here as a patient, or your child is here as a patient, then you or your child are the most important person. I understand that.

“But getting people to understand that as A&E staff we deal with people in order of clinical priority is quite difficult. People don’t always understand that. If they are not seen immediately, that is quite positive.â€

As told to Denis Campbell