Security cuts, faulty equipment: Northern Beaches Hospital staff blow whistle

A scathing report into a beleaguered Sydney hospital reveals a facility where security incidents go unanswered, failing equipment is not replaced and staff are burnt out. Read the list of incidents.

The hospital’s management has been criticised by the union, which claims it put profits ahead of health. Picture: Brendan Read

Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH) had 40 serious security incidents in just six months after security was cut below safe levels in January last year, a new scathing report has found.

Staff at the beleaguered hospital, whose private operator Healthscope went into receivership on Monday, have blown the whistle on deteriorating working conditions at the hospital, outlined in the Health Services Union’s (HSU) submission to a NSW parliamentary inquiry.

Submissions from union members working at the hospital reveal a health facility where security incidents go unanswered, where failing equipment is not replaced and staff are burnt out.

The parliamentary inquiry was set up to investigate services at NBH after the tragic death of two-year-old Joe Massa, who died as a result of serious failures of the hospital’s management in September last year.

In January 2024, NBH cut its security staffing below levels at comparable public hospitals, with staff reporting more than 40 serious security incidents in the six months that followed.

Incident reports seen by The Daily Telegraph, detailed staff being regularly punched, spat on and kicked by patients in the ED, or by those involuntarily scheduled in the mental health ward, with security guards reporting being too understaffed to safely restrain dangerous patients.

Northern Beaches Hospital private operator Healthscope went into receivership on Monday. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Other incidents included unanswered code blacks, staff injuries, broken CCTV and duress alarms, and untrained staff forced to intervene in violent incidents.

One security guard reported being left alone with an agitated patient in February 2024.

“The patient charged at me, throwing punches, started to kick me, while trying to calm her down,” a first hand account from an incident report detailed.

“Her kicks landed on my right arm, shoulder and stomach, her saliva in my face … limited resources from security and wardies available during this time.”

Another hospital security member reported: “Obviously we are understaffed and we need more security to perform our work safely. Are they waiting for someone to be badly injured or dead?”

Two-year-old Joe Massa, who died after a routine visit to Northern Beaches Hospital Picture: Supplied

Elouise and Danny Massa, holding the shoes of their two-year-old son Joe. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Union members who voiced concerns around the security cuts said hospital management in response, instructed staff to hide in locked rooms and offered to train volunteers and ward staff instead to manage aggressive patients.

In the submission, hospital staff also warn of the substandard condition and availability of medical equipment, with some of the equipment purchased second-hand and reaching the end of its life.

Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

The submission details a recent audit in which 13 out 21 electrocardiograph machines, which are used to diagnose heart attacks, were found to be faulty – with only two replaced. Additionally observation machines and theatre scopes were in such short supply staff were required to share across departments.

“Theatre equipment is often stored inappropriately and some devices are reportedly held together with tape,” the submission reads.

“Despite repeated requests, Healthscope management has declined to replace or

adequately supplement this equipment, citing cost concerns.”

Healthscope chief executive Tino La Spina. Picture: 60 Minutes

HSU secretary Gerard Hayes said many of the failures were due to a hospital that prioritised profit.

“The hospital has been struggling to make ends meet for a long time and have been drowning slowly … all the signs were there, the cutbacks,” he said.

“This hospital was promised to be world-class. Instead, we got a case study in how

profit-driven healthcare fails, and now they are in receivership.”

A Healthscope spokesperson said the hospital installed a new CCTV system in 2024 and that its“highest priority is the care and safety of our people and patients”.

“All duress systems are in working order, and any required repairs are promptly undertaken.”

Elouise Massa, the mother of Joe Massa, said the revelations coming out in submissions to the inquiry about further failings and cost cutting at NBH “validate our concerns about unsafe systems and wrong priorities that have catastrophic outcomes for patients”.

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Originally published as Security cuts, faulty equipment: Northern Beaches Hospital staff blow whistle