Man attacks nurses in Prato psych ward

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 6 - A foreign patient attacked two nurses and a social-health operator in a Prato psychiatric ward overnight in the latest episode of violence in the national health service, sources said Monday.
    "We suffered hours of terror," said the ward chief.
    The attack comes amid a wave of assaults on hospital staff in Italy.
    In 2024, according to figures released his week, there were eighteen thousand assaults on healthcare workers in one year, with a 38 percent increase in the last five years.
    Some 42 percent of staff, mostly women, report having been the victim of physical or psychological assaults at least once in their work.
    It is a difficult job but also poorly paid, according to the latest report.
    Salaries are 22 percent lower than the OECD average. "A difficult work context and inadequate remuneration spell as a consequence that 1 in 2 doctors and nurses suffer burnout," it said. (ANSA).