‘Become a punching bag’: Violence, assaults in public hospitals sky rocket

A staggering 70 per cent of Queensland’s public hospital staff have been assaulted or witnessed violence at work, with warnings patients are also at risk.

A staggering 70 per cent of Queensland’s public hospital staff have been assaulted or witnessed violence at work a damning new survey has revealed, with warnings patients are also at risk.

Queensland Health staff believe their bosses and the government aren’t taking their concerns seriously, with a new union-run campaign set to call for more security personnel and tougher laws to protect workers and patients.

Staff concerns have been detailed in a massive Australian Workers Union survey of 1279 nurses, security officers, orderlies and other health staff across 114 Queensland Health facilities. This comes after it was revealed Queensland public hospital workers were copping an average of nearly 40 instances of occupational violence day.

The AWU survey, conducted between January and April, found 70 per cent of Queensland Health staff had been assaulted at work or seen someone else face violence.

The same proportion believed there were not enough security officers, if any, where they work. And more than half believed help wouldn’t come in a “timely manner” if they were assaulted.

A shock survey as revealed 70 per cent of Queensland Health workers have been assaulted or witnessed violence.

According to the union the issue was “so severe” it was affecting patients, with staff pulled away or delayed in their work amid outbreaks of violence.

The AWU is set to launch a campaign calling for the government and the Opposition to commit to “system-wide” security reformat facilities, instead of leaving it up to individual hospital and health services.

AWU Queensland secretary Stacey Schinnerl said Queensland Health was not giving workplace violence the attention it deserved and the rate of violence being reported would not be accepted elsewhere.

“Our frontline health workers deserve to feel safe in the workplace, but right now our public hospitals are anything but safe,” she said.

A Queensland Health security guard, who works in North Queensland, said he had suffered bruises, cuts above his eyes and had his uniform torn after being assaulted on the job.

“People have had teeth knocked out and things like that with the level of violence,” he said. “You become a punching bag at the end of the day, it’s that simple.”

The union is asking for more security personnel at hospitals, a standard minimum level of protective equipment for guards, overhaul training modules, streamline WorkCover claims and put in place a “clearly defined zero-tolerance policy for violence”.

It was recently revealed Queensland Health staff had reported a staggering 14,122 occupational violence incidents in 2022/23 — a 13.45 per cent increase on 2019/20.

Queensland Health at the time acknowledged there had been a significant rise in occupational violence, attributing the increase to hospitals returning to full service after the pandemic and staff being encouraged to report incidents.