Violence rife, nurses say

Date
    May 19, 2013


Nurses have begun a campaign demanding the Napthine government take urgent action to protect them from increasing violence in Victorian hospitals.

The Australian Nursing Foundation has placed full-page advertisements in Melbourne's Sunday newspapers, warning that nurses and midwives are increasingly being punched, hit, pushed, kicked, bitten or threatened with weapons when trying to care for patients.      

They say a $21 million pre-election commitment to make workplaces safer has stalled, and proposed laws for tougher penalties against those who attack emergency staff have yet to be introduced.      

The advertisement says the state government's response to a 2011 parliamentary inquiry into hospital violence failed to reduce the danger because it did not provide enough money for health services to introduce the recommendations.


Despite the inquiry recommending all Victorian hospitals introduce ''code grey'' policies, to deal with aggressive and violent behaviour, some hospitals have failed to make the changes.    

There are also concerns that nurses who are attacked or abused are urged not to report the incidents.

''We know from the government's own inquiry that there is significant under-reporting of violent and aggressive incidents,'' said Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick.

''Nurses are being paid special leave, which we equate to hush-money, so they don't put in a formal injury claim when they have been attacked at work.

''We've also had some very significant reports over the last couple of months of members being disciplined when they do report incidents.

''One member assisted a doctor confronting a relative of a patient at a metropolitan emergency department who was being very aggressive towards the nursing staff. Because he and the doctor took the relative down to the ground, which is part of the training, he's now being disciplined for that action.''

The advertisements urge the public to support the campaign by signing a petition and writing to Premier Denis Napthine asking him to make Victorian hospitals safe.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister David Davis said the government had committed $5.8 million over four years to improving safety in Victorian health services, including upgrading duress alarms and installing security cameras in emergency departments.

She said the minister had written to the Attorney-General about introducing legislation to protect health and emergency services workers.

Ms Fitzpatrick acknowledged that the government had provided funding for duress alarms for nurses but said there were not enough trained security staff to respond to the alarms.    

''We cannot sit back and wait until a nurse has been so injured that someone dies at work and then look at what we should have done. There needs to be action now,'' she said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/violence-rife-nurses-say-20130518-2jtlo.html#ixzz2TncUrJig

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