Hospitals reveal alarming toll of violence on health workers
Police are being called to two assaults a day in Victoria’s hospitals and health clinics as the number of drug offences and violent attacks soars across the state. See how the danger is escalating.
VIC News
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Hospitals and health clinics across the state are under siege from soaring rates of violence and drug use.
Police are called to two assaults a day in Victoria’s hospitals, GP and dental clinics, and other health facilities. In the last year alone assaults soared 18 per cent to 725 — continuing a trend that has seen Victoria Police record a 70 per cent jump since 2015.
Drug offences and crimes against people have also risen sharply in the state’s health system.
Hospitals in all regions have borne the brunt of the increasing aggression.
As well, there were 355 sex offences and two homicides between October 2018 and November 2019.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos on Tuesday said the Andrews Government was rolling out measures to better protect healthcare workers.
However, Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the frequency police had to attend health centre assaults was “staggering and hugely concerning”.
“Our hardworking doctors and nurses need to be able to go to work each day knowing they are safe, but instead the increase of violence in their workplace under Labor is a growing concern,” she said.
This month the Herald Sun revealed ice and other drugs had been taken by 40 per cent of patients involved in attacks and threatening incidents where security guards had to be called in to Royal Melbourne Hospital’s emergency department, with some of the incidents captured on CCTV.
The most recent data from Victoria Police’s Crime Statistics Agency reveals drug offences in hospitals have surged by 156 per cent since 2015.
In hospitals alone the rate of drug crimes jumped 42 per cent last year, while across the wider health network they rose 55 per cent.
Most drug crimes were use or possession, with higher-severity crimes of dealing or trafficking stable at eight offences last year.
Health location crime statistics also show:
Hospitalsbear the brunt of health centre violence, being the scenes of 504 assaults between October 2018 and September 2019 — 12 per cent higher than the previous year;
Crimesagainst people in health facilities jumped by 18 per cent in just a year and 87 per cent since 2015;
Sexualcrimes increased by 30 per cent last year in health facilities, with 355 offences reported; and
Eighty police officers and 88 hospital emergency workers were victims of reported assaults in a year.
Ms Mikakos said the government’s $40 million health service violence prevention fund had rolled out equipment, infrastructure and technology over the past four years to make hospitals and mental health facilities safer for patients, visitors and staff.
“Our hardworking nurses and doctors are not punching bags, it’s never OK that they’re abused, threatened or assaulted just for doing their job,” Ms Mikakos said.
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“We’ve beefed up hospital security, we’re building behavioural assessment rooms to treat patients who pose a threat to others, and we’re rolling out six emergency department crisis hubs for people with urgent mental health, alcohol and drug issues — all while making it clear that this type of behaviour is not on.
“Unlike the Liberals who hid information about incidents in hospitals, we have fostered a culture where more workers feel comfortable reporting these issues so they can be acted on rather than swept under the rug.”