Shocking video shows emergency health workers being attacked
Shocking video released by Royal Melbourne Hospital shows emergency workers being attacked and spat on.
Nearly 7500 violent incidents towards staff were reported at the hospital last year, with patients spitting, fighting and hurling chairs. Nine of these were code blacks, with the perpetrator armed with a weapon.
That total is an increase of 85 per cent in the past four years, according to News Corp.
But staff at Royal Melbourne Hospital have had enough and released video to highlight the dangerous, hostile work place environment they are in. The video will be played in waiting areas to illustrate what is unacceptable behaviour.
Royal Melbourne Hospital nurse unit manager Susan Harding said staff experience "incidents of violence every shift".
"It ranges from verbal aggression to physical aggression and incidences such as you've seen in the video," she said.
Ms Harding added the drug ice is a "contributing factor" but patients on the drug aren't the only ones exhibiting violence.
"Sometimes it's relatives that come in with patients," she said.
"It's not isolated to drug affected patients or mental health patients."
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"I think it's gradually getting worse but I think our acceptance of it is not OK anymore. We want to make a stand and say that this has been around for a long time but we're not going to tolerate it anymore.
"It's not OK."
It's not just isolated to Royal Melbourne Hospital either. In 2017, a heart surgeon was killed in a one-punch attack at Box Hill Hospital when he asked a visitor to stop smoking in a non-smoking area.
In Perth, doctors and nurses have learned self-defence to protect themselves against drug-affected patients. Paramedics also now wear body cameras.
