Larnaca hospital emergency department staff went on a spontaneous one-hour work stoppage on Monday at 9am to protest another incident of verbal abuse of a nurse.

Nurses’ union Pasyno threatened to withdraw all staff from all public hospital A&Es in two days’ time until appropriate safety measures are taken by the state health services organisation Okypy.

The most recent incident involved verbal abuse of a triage nurse, in which a police officer intervening to assist was physically attacked by two people accompanying a patient.

“There was an incidence of violence at around noon at the Larnaca A&E,” Larnaca police spokesman Spyros Chrysostomou confirmed.

“From our investigations so far it appears that an injured person went to A&E accompanied by four to five other people where they tried to insist they were seen to first,” Chrysostomou said.

They pushed the officer and swore at him and then left withough being seen to, Chrysostomou said.

Police are now looking for a suspect, he added.

“The repeated incident of violence causes sadness and anger, as well as concern,” the state health services organisation (Okypy) said, expressing full support for staff “who professionally deal with difficult incidents and save lives, stating that such behaviours cannot be accepted.”

It said that works are ongoing in A&E to expand the service offered which is why patients are being seen in other areas.

Upon completion of the project, Larnaca will acquire a modern A&E that will fully serve the needs of patients, Okypy added.

Pasyno warned that on Thursday nurses island-wide would withdraw from public A&Es until measures are taken to provide safe and suitable working conditions for staff

“Triage is a particularly demanding process, which must be carried out under conditions that ensure both quality of care and staff safety,” the nurses’ union said.

“Unfortunately, there is an ever-increasing number of incidents of verbal and physical attacks against nurses, which creates an unsafe working environment that endangers the physical integrity and mental health of nursing staff,” it added.

Pasyno said that the absence of protection and security measures make it “impossible [for nurses] to carry out [their] duties in safe conditions”, especially in the container room.

On March 17 in a meeting between the Okypy director and the unions, the former admitted that all hospital A&Es had problems and made a commitment to immediately resolve them, which has not happened, Pasyno said.

The nursing branch of the worker’s union (Pasydy) also condemned the incident, saying “Once again we are witnessing staff victimised by violent behaviour and attacks from patients while carrying out their duties.”

The state was proving impotent to protect healthcare professionals, the union said.

“Unfortunately, once again the state’s inability to protect healthcare professionals is evident, which is why we call on the police and all involved bodies to investigate the incident and for the offenders to be punished in an exemplary manner.”

Violence against healthcare professionals has no place in society and should not go unpunished, the union said.

The nurses’ union on Friday had warned of understaffing issues, saying that six per cent of staff in state hospitals were on long-term leave due to sickness, pregnancy and parental leave.

At Larnaca general hospital, there is a shortage of 20 nurses, with 13 of the 369 nurses (3.5 per cent) on long-term leave.

The union had earlier called for increased personnel to address the shortages and warned of potential strikes if their demands are not met by March 31.