Royal Melbourne Hospital staff hit back at abuse

THIS is the shocking moment a hostile patient flings a chair at terrified Royal Melbourne Hospital workers, who are forced to duck for cover. Tired of being abused, emergency department staff are taking a stand. WATCH THE VIDEO

TIRED of being abused, beaten and spat on — which happened almost 7500 times last year alone — emergency department staff at Royal Melbourne Hospital are taking a stand.

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Health workers at the state’s busiest adult emergency department have produced their own shock video to play in the waiting area so patients can be shown unacceptable behaviour and hopefully calm down before situations escalate.

The action comes after 7438 “code grey” incidents in 2017 — an 85 per cent increase in aggressive and threatening incidents in just four years.

Royal Melbourne staff were also faced with nine “code black” situations last year involving aggressive patients with a weapon.

The moment a man flings a chair at hospital staff at reception.

By showing patients graphic CCTV footage of hostile patients attacking staff and using weapons to smash doors, combined with staff acting out violent situations they face daily, nurse unit manager Susan Harding hopes people will get the message.

“Staff who work on the ground face this every day and we needed to change the way of thinking,” she said.

“For a long time it was just acceptable behaviour that was part and parcel of what we do when we come to work.”

Of the RMH’s code grey incidents last year, 2847 involved patients already acting violently while 4591 were “planned code grey” situations where medical staff could see a situation worsening and called security before it escalated.

Minister for Health Jill Hennessy. Picture: AAP

The most common reports in the emergency department include physical violence, threatening behaviour and harassment.

In 2013 there were 1678 code grey and 2332 planned code grey situations.

Ms Harding said the increasingly hostile scenes confronted by staff prompted them to make their own video, which Health Minister Jill Hennessy has backed in an effort to improve emergency department safety for patients and workers.

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“We know that hospitals can be environments of strong emotion and high stress, but violence against staff must never be tolerated — and should never be accepted as being part of the job,” she said.