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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-04 Daily Xml
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Nurse Safety

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding nurses.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: The nurses' federation has revealed 22 assaults on nurses this year alone at the Whyalla Hospital, including punches, bites and strangulation. This has resulted in numerous injuries. SafeWork SA recommended in 2019 that security guards be brought in to the emergency department and that point has been repeatedly raised with the minister by the member for Giles in the other place. In May 2019, the minister told ABC radio that the report on security arrangements at the Whyalla Hospital was 'expected imminently'. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why has the minister refused calls from nurses, SafeWork SA and the local MP for over two years to introduce security guards at the emergency department?

2. Will the minister release the report he received in 2019 into security measures at the Whyalla Hospital?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:46): I have certainly noted the public statements by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. I want to preface my remarks by reaffirming this government's abhorrence of violence in any form and particularly against our health workers when they are going about their daily lives. That is why it was this government that introduced the most stringent legislation protecting health workers in the workplace.

The government's determination to deal with violence in the health workplace has particularly been expressed through the Challenging Behaviour framework, which is a statewide framework that, consistent with our belief that real action happens on the ground, is led by LHNs to respond to particular challenges in their communities. Certainly, Whyalla has been an ongoing problem, and when I visited Whyalla I made a point of going to the emergency department. Some of the problems are structural; for example, the visiting area is in two separate waiting areas and that often is problematic in terms of managing the flow of both people who are needing emergency care and those who are attending them.

In the context of the ANMF statements today, I did seek information from the Flinders and Upper North Local Health Network and I can advise the following:

The safety of our staff and patients is always our top priority and any acts of intentional violence and aggression within our hospital are not tolerated. Our staff are highly skilled in preventing and responding to challenging behaviour and caring for complex cohorts of patients requiring close observation and care. Staff are trained in the Management of Actual or Potential Aggression—

which is a training program that is commonly called MAPA—

and Code Black training and are supported by additional nurses and trained support staff. As part of a security review, recent improvements have included a review of the duress alarm system, enclosing some nurses' stations and practical Code Black response training. We have also committed to establishing a Challenging Behaviour Prevention and Response Committee to oversee the implementation of the statewide Challenging Behaviour toolkit.

I certainly support the efforts of the local health network to work with staff to ensure that violence is reduced. Staff are encouraged to report instances of violence, and staff are supported, having been the victims of violence.

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