More power to hospitals to help manage abusive patients

Queensland Health will trial duress alarms and body cameras, and consider banning repeat violent visitors from some hospitals under new plans to tackle violence against health workers.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Cameron Dick said the Queensland Health Occupational Violence Taskforce, chaired by former Community Safety Director-General Jim McGowan, had set forward a broad range of long-term measures to help improve staff safety.

Mr Dick said the report made a number of recommendations that looked at long-term change.

“There’s a range of structural measures we need to look at for the long term and there are measures we can look at immediately,” he said.

Mr Dick said Queensland Health would look at a range of measures already being trialled in a number of hospitals to see if they would work statewide.

“Our hospitals don't cause this violence and this report shows they won't be able to fix it alone,” he said.

Mr Dick said trials of voice-activated duress alarms and body cameras would be accelerated.

Queensland Health will also look at the feasibility of banning violent family and friends from attending a health precinct unless they were a patient.

Main recommendations of the Queensland Health Occupational Violence Taskforce report were addressing issues including:

• review of security arrangements across all Queensland Health hospitals
• investigating the suitability and effectiveness of using personal duress alarms
• a review of security guard powers and other security service arrangements, including staffing levels functions and training
• developing dedicated strategies to reduce occupational violence in high risk areas, including emergency departments, mental health services, and services in isolated and remote communities, and
• that staff remain the focus of any post-incident review of occupational violence incidents in health facilities

Mr Dick said a dedicated Occupational Violence Implementation Oversight Committee would be established to oversee development of new initiatives.

Metro North Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive, Ken Whelan, would head the new committee.

Queensland Health has already launched a public awareness campaign to help combat levels of violence against healthcare workers.

Mr Dick said an effective approach to combating violence against healthcare workers would require significant public support.

“It’s up to us, as a community, to play that essential role in keeping our healthcare workers safe,” he said.

‘‘They deserve our respect and gratitude for the important work they do.

‘‘I encourage the community to get behind our healthcare workers and support zero tolerance for this type of anti-social behaviour.”

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Anika Hume 0439 253 815