A hospital nurse was fighting for her life tonight after being stabbed in a ‘senseless attack’ – allegedly by a patient who became ‘angry’ about having to wait.
The nurse, a woman in her 50s, was attacked while working in an accident and emergency unit – suffering ‘serious’ injuries which are believed to be ‘life-changing’, police said.
The ‘distressing and frightening’ attack happened at the Royal Oldham Hospital, Greater Manchester, with the assailant said to have used a ‘sharp instrument’ that wasn’t a knife, an officer said.
Police said a 37-year-old man was ‘swiftly arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder’.
Labour MP Jim McMahon, who represents Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, said: ‘We are all shocked at the senseless attack on a nurse in the A&E department of the Royal Oldham Hospital.
‘Our thoughts are with the nurse, family and friends as we wish a full recovery.’
One nurse at the hospital claimed the attack happened after a patient became angry over the time they were waiting to be seen.
She said: ‘It’s terrible – there was a row with a patient. I think they became angry because they had to wait to be seen. It’s scary.’
