Nurses’ strike threat over safety fears

DANDENONG Hospital nurses are threatening to take strike action today (Thursday) over violence.
Emergency room staff say they are regularly hit, punched, kicked, bitten and threatened.
So Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) members are calling on Monash Health to implement immediate measures to stop the attacks.
They want security guard numbers increased, security coverage increased to 24 hours a day, and standardised Code Grey and Code Black responses for staff to follow.
Code Grey refers to violence and aggression without a weapon and Code Black incidents are armed threats.
The call followed several recent incidents, the latest a dispute over a nurse being demoted for their response to an aggressive visitor, who breached a secure emergency department area on 29 March.
A nurse was recently bitten in an attack on one of the wards, and police were called on Sunday afternoon when a man threw pieces of concrete at the emergency department while up to 25 people in the waiting room were evacuated to a safer space.
ANF Victorian Branch assistant secretary Paul Gilbert said nurses were saying ‘enough is enough’.
“If Monash Health is unable to agree to these measures by midday on Thursday then the elected health and safety reps, in consultation with the ANF, will issue a direction to cease work in the emergency department because of the imminent threat to health and safety,” he said.
Dandenong Hospital operator Monash Health said it was “absolutely committed to patient, visitors and staff safety” but could not comment further on the incidents or current situation.