Police in hospital minder dispute

Tensions between police officers and hospital staff have boiled over at emergency departments, as frustrated officers complain they can’t fight crime while babysitting patients.

Tensions between police officers and hospital staff have boiled over at emergency departments amid the state’s escalating ramping crisis, as frustrated officers complain they can’t fight crime while babysitting patients.

Doctors say frustrations are being felt across the board, while a leaked email shows Queensland Health has complained to senior police about officers who want to leave mental health patients at ERs before overloaded doctors and nurses can see them.

The Courier-Mail can reveal South Brisbane’s Chief Superintendent Bill Graham has written to his officers pleading with them to exercise “patience” in this “trying time” and telling them they cannot insist health staff take patients to get back on the road themselves.

Under an agreement struck between frontline officers, police are meant to be able to hand over a mental health patient within 30 minutes of bringing them to emergency.

“There have been concerns raised by Queensland Health with police insisting that they leave as soon as the 30-minute time frame is reached, having the potential to leave Queensland Health staff at risk,” Superintendent Graham’s email said.

“Until the agreement can be revisited, it is requested that all staff remain with patients until handover can be affected.”

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers. Picture: John Gass

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers slammed the ongoing crisis, saying his fellow officers’ time was being wasted at hospitals when they should be “on the frontline”.

“It is an inefficient use of police time waiting at hospitals with patients,” he said.

“Police will always prioritise saving lives and protecting the community, but they should be on the frontline responding to calls for assistance and disrupting crime.”

But a spokesman for Health Minister Yvette D’Ath defended the health system, saying 120 new paramedics would start this month and that the government was on track to deliver more than 1000 new hospital beds during this term.

“We want patients out of ambulances and ambulances and police back on the road as quickly as possible,” he said.

But emergency doctors were just as frustrated as police and paramedics by the chaotic scenes.

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Queensland Chair Dr Kim Hansen said police and paramedics should not be stuck in EDs and were “doing everything we can to get them back out there” to the hundreds of other people waiting.

“I certainly share the frustrations with QAS and QPS, we’re all frustrated,” she said.

“We (doctors) are also not able to do our jobs properly when the ambulances are stuck at ED or when the police are stuck at a ED.

“For us, if the patient is waiting in a corridor or in a waiting room chair, we can’t give them the level of treatment we want to, we need a private space.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli described the tensions as “the harrowing next chapter of the Queensland health crisis”.

“The health crisis is now so bad, we’re pulling police off the road to carry the load, when they should be on the beat keeping the community safe,” he said.

“It also means Queenslanders stuck in police cars aren’t getting the healthcare they need.”

A police spokesman confirmed senior officers had met with QAS bosses to discuss better ways to work together “to ensure community safety is not compromised in emergency situations”.

“The QPS has noted an increase year-on-year of mental health calls for service,” he said.

Originally published as Police in hospital minder dispute