Unguarded prisoner sexually harassed nurses for a fortnight

Cairns nurses were sexually harassed and subjected to violence and aggression for a fortnight by a prisoner in the mental health ward, after hospital management ignored repeated pleas for a security guard to protect staff.

Cairns Mental Health Unit.

Cairns nurses were sexually harassed and subjected to violence and aggression for a fortnight by a prisoner in the mental health ward, after hospital management ignored repeated pleas for a ­security guard to protect staff.

Fresh revelations about an ­aggressive prisoner in the far north Queensland public psychiatric unit follow whistleblower nurses’ complaints they are regularly assaulted by offenders who are not guarded by prison officers, because of a provision in the Mental Health Act.

Contemporaneous notes of the incident in November last year, seen by The Australian, reveal the prisoner from the nearby Lotus Glen Correctional Centre was admitted to the hospital after “multiple physical assaults” on jail officers.

Told of the impending ­admission, nurses requested a static security guard be stationed on the ward from November 14 “due to the risk of aggression”, but an officer never arrived.

The notes reveal “days of sexual disinhibition from the prisoner towards multiple female nursing staff and acts of violence/aggression” before the prisoner made a “direct threat” towards nurses on November 27, and raised a closed fist towards a ­female nurse.

The nurses again asked for a “static” security guard immediately “to ensure the safety of the staff” but none was provided due to staff shortages.

The day before the prisoner was sent back to Lotus Glen, the hospital shifted the security guard responsible for the entire hospital block to the mental health unit “unless called away for an emergency”. The ­belated response “worked well”, nurses noted.

Nurses have been repeatedly raising safety concerns with the hospital and the union for nearly a year, but feel their pleas have been ignored by the hospital, the union and the government.

In August last year, acting ­director of nursing Nicole Murphy emailed all mental health nursing staff acknowledging there had been “staff assaults nearly each shift”, and that an “extremely aggressive” patient from the child and youth mental health service (CYMHS) was being treated in the ward.

“I want to honestly acknowledge all your hard work, and continued compassion and empathy when caring for our unwell consumers – in these really difficult settings and situations. You guys are amazing.”

She referred staff to an “occupational violence tool kit” while conceding she had received feedback that “this service is not great” and suggested another non-government support service for nurses and midwives.

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive Leena Singh. Picture: Sandhya Ram

“Everyone keep up the hard work of doing riskmans (reporting assaults to a hospital database) and please report assaults to the police, you can do this online via police link or you can attend the station in person,” Ms Murphy told staff.

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) mental health clinical director Michael Tervit was copied into the August 24 email, as were ­associate clinical director Steve Duffy and CYMHS doctor Luke Frazer.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said she was “really distressed to hear about how unsafe” the nurses were feeling, and said she had spoken to hospital CEO Leena Singh “to see what further support Queensland Health can provide”. Ms Fentiman said she had also asked local MP Michael Healy to meet the nurses “to see what else can be done”.

Premier Steven Miles has dodged questions about whether the Mental Health Act should be changed to allow prison guards to escort offenders in mental health wards, as they are in all other public hospital units. LNP leader David Crisafulli said if successful at next month’s election he would change the “bad laws” that did not allow nurses and doctors to be protected. “Our focus is to make sure nurses can go to work and not be punching bags,” Mr Crisafulli said in Cairns this week.

Ms Singh said that in the past 12 months the hospital had invested in “significant staff training for both nursing staff and security staff to help provide them with additional skills in de-escalation”. She said six extra trainers in personal conflict and resolution had been embedded in the 48-bed mental health wards – which includes the 10-bed psychiatric intensive care unit where prisoners are treated – since March.

“During any given 24-hour period, we have 24 security officers on duty at the hospital,” she said.

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