Shocking number of Victorian hospital staff abused, threatened

Thousands of healthcare workers were abused by aggressive Victorian patients, prompting hospitals to take drastic action to keep their staff safe.

More than 9000 healthcare workers were abused, threatened or assaulted across Melbourne’s major hospitals in the last financial year.

New data has revealed the verbal and physical violence faced by workers, with the number of occupational violence incidents rising to more than 10,000 once figures from Ambulance Victoria were included.

The agency’s annual report — one of hundreds tabled in parliament this week — reported 564 incidents, more than 50 of which resulted in staff suffering an injury, illness or condition.

The Herald Sun analysed annual reports from Melbourne’s public hospitals and found 9,444 incidents of occupational violence, including more than 2500 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

While most facilities recorded a slight decline compared to the previous period, the numbers remained high and represented 25 incidents across Melbourne each day.

These ranged from verbal threats to serious physical assaults, with several workers suffering from injuries or conditions so severe they received WorkCover compensation.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital recorded the highest number of occupational violence incidents. Picture: Getty Images

Hospitals have been forced to ban offenders in extreme cases, while Peninsula Health’s annual report said there had been a “ongoing notable occurrence” of people aged over 65 assaulting staff.

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital identified frustrations over Covid and masks rules as a common trigger.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital recorded 2515 incidents, which was the highest number in Melbourne and represented more than 32 reports for every 100 full-time equivalent staff.

But the percentage of incidents that resulted in staff suffering from an injury, illness or condition was the lowest of all health services (0.4 per cent) suggesting that staff may have been more likely to record lower-severity incidents than other hospitals.

Monash Health — which covers several locations including Monash Children’s Hospital and Dandenong — was second on the list and recorded more than 1400 incidents, but they fell in middle once adjusted for staffing levels.

Their annual report said 87 per cent of these — representing more than 1200 incidents — resulted in harm to staff, the highest percentage of any health service.

Thousands of hospital workers were threatened, abused and assaulted in the most recent financial year. Picture: istock

Only three other organisations recorded more than 100 incidents that led to harm in the 2021 to 2022 financial year: Austin Health, Peninsula Health and Eastern Health, with the latter recording more than 300 such incidents.

After the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Monash Health, the highest number of total incidents were at Austin Health (966), Northern Health (861), Eastern Health (758) and Peninsula Health (735).

Mercy Public Hospitals (representing their Womens and Werribee hospitals) was the only service in the six hundreds, while the Alfred, St Vincent’s and Western Health fell between 400 and 500.

The Royal Children’s Hospital recorded 108 incidents, with the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital was just below at 84.

The Royal Women’s Hospital had the lowest number of reports across Melbourne, with just 17 incidents — only of one which led to staff harm.

But, when adjusted for staff levels, Mercy Public Hospitals (representing the Women’s and Werribee) was second, averaging one incident for every four staff members.

Northern Health remained in the top five at number three on this metric, followed by Peninsula Health (16.46 incidents per 100 full-time equivalent staff) and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (15.2 incidents per 100 staff).