By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
CASEY Hospital’s emergency department went into lockdown after a violent patient smashed double-plate windows with an oxygen cylinder on Wednesday evening.
Staff and patients were evacuated, while other staff were forced to lock themselves in rooms until the man walked out of the department just as police arrived.
The hospital’s three security guards reportedly attended the incident.
A distressed staff member said it was lucky no-one was injured after the man “started screaming and then hitting the windows” in the room he was in, eventually smashing the windows.
“It almost sounded like gun shots – it was so loud.
“This incident was extreme and one of the worst episodes of patient violence and aggression that I have witnessed.”
The staff member described a young girl near the incident who was “crying and trembling in fear”.
Casey emergency staff are routinely punched, kicked, spat upon and throttled by “aggressive and abusive” people, many fuelled on ice, the staff member said.
She said no-one was injured during Wednesday’s incident, except the patient suffering some minor cuts.
“Some of us have had training on how to physically restrain or take down people.
“In this situation it was deemed too dangerous due to the glass everywhere.
“The plan was to stay out of the area and direct him to the exit if he came out.”
The staff member said it was “lucky” that at the time there were no resuscitation patients, who are treated in the next room.
“If someone is intubated they cannot be easily moved due to the risk to their life.”
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state assistant secretary Paul Gilbert said the man had been in “desperate need” for an acute mental health ward bed.
“He had to be cared for in the ED due to a shortage of mental health beds.”
It is believed the man was later treated at the hospital’s mental health ward.
In response to the incident, the ANMF reiterated its urging for the State Government to implement the federation’s 10-point plan to tackle violence and aggression against hospital nurses and midwives
“This latest attack follows the full release of an (Auditor-General’s) report into occupational violence and aggression … showing there was not enough being done by the Department of Health and WorkSafe to protect nurses and midwives at work,” Mr Gilbert said.
The State Government provided $20 million towards health service violence prevention – such as security cameras and reconfiguration of hospital rooms – in the 2015/16 state budget.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Jill Hennessy said it was “particularly concerning that those who care for others – often at their most vulnerable – face an elevated risk of violence”.
She said the government, which signed the 10-point plan before the last year’s State Election, was committed to implementing it.
A Monash Health spokesman said the hospital group was “proud” of the staff’s response to the incident.
