Madrid (EFE).- The National Police processed 241 complaints of attacks on health professionals last year, 7 percent more than the previous year, of which almost six out of ten were verbal threats against the physical attacks they have experienced a decrease compared to 2021.
These are the data from the balance of actions of the National Police to prevent attacks on toilets that the police officers presented this Wednesday together with the main professional medical organizations and that in 2022 resulted in 60 detainees, a quarter of them relatives of the patient treated and 17 percent of them repeat offenders.
Last year, 241 attacks were reported in the area of competence of the National Police compared to 225 in 2021. 42 percent were physical attacks and 58% verbal, with the group of doctors reporting the most -68% of the total -, followed by nurses who account for 24% of complaints and technicians, 8%.
Malaga and Seville were the provinces with the highest number of complaints of attacks and Thursdays and Fridays are the days of the week with the highest incidence of attacks, concentrating between ten and twelve in the morning.
A group more aware of denouncing
Both the General Commissioner for Citizen Security, Juan Carlos Castro Estévez, and the main commissioner interlocutor with the health sector, Manuel Yanguas, have stressed that the increase in attacks does not mean that there are more attacks, but rather that there is a greater awareness of the sector to reporting and increased security measures.
Both officials have also clarified that the reporting figures in police stations differ from the data provided annually by medical colleges because not all reported attacks are considered punishable acts, so that, for example, the Observatory against Aggressions of the General Council of Colleges Medical Officials (CGCOM) added more than 600 facts in 2021.
During the past year the Police carried out 8,000 actions, the majority during health care in homes -6,188- and another 2,624 in health centers.
Since 2017, in which the instruction on police measures to be adopted against attacks on health professionals was launched, the Police have trained more than 17,300 health workers on police and procedural aspects to act in the event of an attack in the exercise of their functions, as well as communication tools to prevent possible violent situations or that they escalate.
In total, there are 59 police officers who work as health police interlocutors.
Among the initiatives to further increase security in these units, the Police is finalizing a protocol that will allow, as is the case in shopping centers, to be able to report in the health center itself, a measure that the General Commissioner for Citizen Security points out will be “very effective” for Continue to reduce the “dark figure” of attacks that are not reported.
