WITHIN days of the vicious attack on a doctor in Penticton, an experienced nurse was brutally assaulted on Sunday while working at the Hillside Centre at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

The nurse was grabbed by the hair, punched several times and thrown against a wall. She was treated in emergency and is recovering at home from pain and bruising.

One year ago, another nurse was seriously assaulted at the same facility. The health authority promised better security. Despite that promise, the nurse who was assaulted on Sunday had an alarm with a dead battery and a new alarm system is 18 months overdue.

“Nurses are assaulted almost daily in hospitals across BC,” said BC Nurses’ Union President Gayle Duteil. “In many cases, the assaults could be prevented with better staffing levels, on-site security personnel and alarm systems that work.”

Duteil says the BCNU has repeatedly requested health authorities take immediate action to provide greater safety to nurses, yet nothing is done.

“This is an issue that should be a concern for all people in BC. We all need safe patient care.”