By Luke Voogt
Barwon Health will bolt chairs to the floor in Geelong hospital’s emergency department (ED) to stop patients hurling them and using them as weapons.
The safety improvement was one of several the hospital will make to the department with an $89,849 State Government grant.
“We are pleased to see recent moves to improve safety,” Barwon Health chief executive officer Ruth Salom said.
The measure follows a brawl in ED on New Year’s Day, 2017, where a man attacked another patient with a row of chairs.
Twenty sick and injured patients, including children, fled the waiting room and cowered in a safe room nearby.
Witnesses reported the two men throwing chairs and punches for 10 minutes before security guards arrived.
Barwon Health will also remove structures that obstruct staff members’ line of sight to waiting areas and install a glass window to the second waiting area.
The upgrade would allow staff to better monitor those awaiting treatment and potential security concerns, Professor Salom said.
Barwon Health already had many security systems and policies in place to protect staff and patients, she said.
“There is always room for improvement when it comes to reducing the occurrence and impact of occupational violence and aggression, and Barwon Health has many more upgrades to come.”
The grant would fund comfort improvements like an air curtain to better control ambient temperatures in waiting areas, Prof Salom said.
Barwon Health had also gained funding for swipe-access points on all Geelong hospital’s doors for after-hours lock-down and mobile duress alarms in two high-risk wards, she said.
Geelong MP Christine Couzens last Friday announced the funding as part of State Government’s $8 million Health Service Violence Prevention Fund.
“We’re giving our hospital and mental health facility staff the equipment, infrastructure and technology that keeps staff, patients and visitors safe,” she said.
The fund will pay for security camera upgrades, car park safety zones, personal duress alarms and other projects in 46 Victorian hospitals around Victoria.
State Government recently announced it would toughen statutory minimum prison sentencing laws for assaulting emergency workers and further limit the use of community corrections orders.
“It’s never acceptable to attack or abuse our frontline health workers,” Ms Couzens said.
