Reports of Attacks on Healthcare Workers Rise by 29%

Reports of attacks on healthcare professionals in Spanish cities increased by 29% last year, according to data released today by the National Police. The police have had a specific program for seven years aimed at preventing or minimizing these attacks and protecting mainly doctors and nurses, but also pharmacists, veterinarians, dentists, social workers, and administrative staff.

In the past twelve months, healthcare professionals working in Spanish urban areas filed 406 complaints against patients, relatives, and companions who assaulted them in some way during their work. This is 91 more complaints than the previous year, with the provinces of Seville, Las Palmas, and Madrid experiencing the most serious incidents.

The attacks that increased the most in 2024 were verbal (mostly threats and insults), accounting for 70% of the most significant incidents, with a decrease in physical assaults (blows, shoves, shakes), which still make up 30% of those officially reported. This reduction in more violent attacks partly explains why arrests resulting from a higher number of attacks have decreased from 115 in 2023 to 106.

Of the more than 10,000 actions by the National Police in defense of healthcare workers last year, 70% took place during home visits, with the rest occurring in health centers, emergency services, and hospitals. The days of the week with the highest number of attacks on healthcare workers were Wednesday and Thursday, and the most problematic time was between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon.

Police officials, however, believe that this 28.9% increase in complaints should not alarm the sector because, initially, it does not necessarily imply only an increase in assaults but is also partly the result of greater awareness among the healthcare community about the importance of reporting and adopting a zero-tolerance attitude towards any form of violence by patients or companions.

Since the National Police launched its specific program for healthcare workers in 2017, more than 40,000 professionals have received training from officers in preventive techniques and tools against assaults and ways to try to stop attacks if they occur, both in-person and online. Of all these training sessions, just over a quarter, about 11,000, were conducted last year.

Among the projects developed for the first time in 2024, the extension of training activities to other non-healthcare professionals working in these centers stands out, such as orderlies, administrative staff, or security guards, who were trained in behavior analysis techniques and prevention against assaults in healthcare environments.

These teachings were also extended to other groups of professionals who carry out their activities outside healthcare centers, such as home care, ambulances, Civil Protection, 112, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, physiotherapists, and social workers. Similarly, preventive training activities against attacks were conducted in the university environment, aimed at students in the final years of various healthcare degrees.