By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
DANDENONG Hospital has failed to implement safety recommendations made two years ago, leading to ongoing staff concerns, the nursing union claims.
Nurses last week threatened to go on strike over the unresolved safety issues, after it was revealed a Dandenong Hospital nurse was disciplined for allegedly tackling an aggressive patient.
Australian Nursing Federation state spokesman Paul Gilbert said the union has called on the hospital to properly run a Code Grey policy protocol — an emergency management response to threats from violent, unarmed patients or visitors.
The union claims the lack of protocol is noted in one of 12 recommendations from a 2011 state inquiry report into hospital violence and security arrangements that have not been implemented.
Mr Gilbert said Monash Health, which runs Dandenong Hospital, was the only hospital network in the state not to have clear Code Grey protocols. He said there had been no “beefing up” of security since the inquiry.
“The security remains the worst we’ve seen. There’s no security guard inside the department. They place security in an area where they can’t see 90 per cent of the department’s cubicle area.”
Last week, it was reported that a senior nurse tackled an aggressive male intruder “shaping up to him” in the supposedly secure treatment cubicles on March 29.
The nurse, who has served at Dandenong Hospital for 16 years, was immediately disciplined and demoted from his supervisory and triage duties after the incident.
Mr Gilbert said the hospital’s internal review of the incident on April 19 found the nurse acted reasonably, and staff lacked training to calm potentially violent situations. “The nurse has been made a scapegoat,” Mr Gilbert said. “The hospital has criticised him for not following a Code Grey policy that doesn’t exist. He shouldn’t be criticised; the hospital should be ensuring a safe workplace.”
At the state inquiry, a Dandenong Hospital emergency nurse submitted her and colleagues were bitten, punched, slapped and had objects thrown at them by patients: “They pull their IVs out and throw bloodstained cannulas, sharps — any kind of weapon they can get their hands on, such as chairs — at the nursing staff.”
A spokeswoman for Monash Health rejected the union’s claims about the March 29 incident.
She said it was inappropriate to comment further because the incident was being investigated internally and by Fair Work Australia.
Victorian Emergency Physicians Association member and emergency specialist George Douros said emergency staff would feel safe if there were adequate numbers of specifically trained security personnel in the department.
Victorian Emergency Physicians Association president Allan Whitehead said emergency doctors were disappointed in the lack of government funding to improve hospital security since the inquiry. Opposition health spokesman Gavin Jennings said the state government should re-invest the $21 million set aside for its abandoned proposal for armed guards in hospitals.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister David Davis did not respond by deadline.
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