24 March 2021
When it comes to MPs and our medical community the double standards over safety are gobsmacking.
“Politicians and bureaucrats, they have their security cover, they have their metal detectors, they have all of this, I don’t begrudge them that,’’ ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM told 5AA’s Leon Byner today.
“They’re OK but what about their workforce? They need to make sure not only that they are safe but that their workforce is safe too. They have an absolute obligation.’’
The issue of violence within our hospitals reared again this week with the court case of a teenage boxer who repeatedly hit a registered nurse during a psychotic episode.
He had been brought into Port Lincoln Hospital under police guard but was left unattended when he attacked the nurse, leaving her with severe bruising, whiplash, scarring, recurring headaches and nausea and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“This assault took place in my place of work, where I should feel safe,’’ the victim said in her impact statement.
“I have suffered great mental anguish and emotional turmoil. I am trying hard to move forward and focus on what is good in my life, but I feel broken.’’
Ms Dabars said SA Health has “an absolute responsibility to provide a safe working environment and it’s just simply incredulous that they continue to fail to do just that. Our sincere thoughts go to the individual involved.
“This is just another example of the chronic issues facing our health system. We have hospitals around the state routinely operating overcapacity, health services under-resourced with our frontline workers and community being put at risk. It is a recipe for disaster, yet the Marshall Government seems to be taking little action to address these serious concerns,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“We have been advocating and agitating on those issues in providing a safe working environment in Port Lincoln for many, many months now and yet they are still refusing to put guards in. They’ve got CCTV in but it’s not being monitored.’’
Sadly, the Port Lincoln bashing is indicative of a health system in crisis across the state. Violence and aggression are everywhere.
Ms Dabars says the ANMF (SA Branch) has “after many, many months finally convinced’’ SA Health to run a forum with each local health network “so they can show us what they believe is being done because they continue to assert that they’ve done things but we continue to hear from our members and the nurses and midwives working on the floor about the issues that they are exposed to’’.
This included a RAH nurse who had her hair “literally torn from her scalp” and two patients who had been housed at the Lyell McEwin for 18 months and two years respectively who “quite frankly shouldn’t be there’’.
“They need supported accommodation,’’ Ms Dabars said. “These individuals have very unique concerns but they are lashing out at staff and part of the reason … is why wouldn’t you if you’ve been trapped in a hospital bed for 18 months to two years.
“The issue is there is an absolute ability to avoid this but there is a lack of system, a lack of resources and so far we’ve seen a complete lack of will (to change things).
“We lobbied and advocated and campaigned for change for absolute action on violence and aggression. What we did get and successfully achieved was a policy change, so they did put in place a policy but the policy is only as good as its implementation and to date, as far as we’re concerned, we have not seen evidence of a change in practice so it is a shocking fact that violence and aggression remains a daily occurrence.
“We would like SafeWork SA to step into this fray and to actually action something about it because, quite frankly, they (SA Health) are remiss in their obligations, it’s outrageous.
“This is where we continue to be astounded and at a loss really because we continue to agitate, we continue to raise these concerns, we do it at every single level,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“The things that are being done clearly are not having the desired effect, and that is why we’re really hopeful that this upcoming forum might give us some headway.
“We want this to be a success. It should be a genuine success for everyone. It should be a success for the community and it should be a success for the really hardworking and dedicated staff who, quite frankly, should not be looking over their shoulder when they get to work.’’