College of emergency nurses New Zealand (CENNZ) chair Lauren Miller said members were “horrified to hear about the brutal and frightening attack that occurred at Middlemore Hospital ED last week”.
A nurse had to be hospitalised after being allegedly punched and choked to unconsciousness by a patient on January 6. It took five staff to pull the man off as security guards were not present at the time.
‘CENNZ would like to see a 24/7 security presence in all EDs across New Zealand.’
A 23-year-old man has been arrested and charged with assault, attempt to injure and impeding breathing and will re-appear in the Manukau District Court on January 21.
“Our sincere thoughts are with the nurse and the team that were involved,” Miller told Kaitiaki.
She said for some time, CENNZ had been advocating for 24/7 security in every ED — and had raised this directly with Minister of Health Shane Reti at a meeting in May 2024.
‘I have made it very clear that violence against health workers is unacceptable and staff and patient safety is a priority for this Government.’
“CENNZ would like to see a 24/7 security presence in all EDs across New Zealand,” she told Kaitiaki this week. “We also strongly believe that the security guards should be purpose-trained to work within the ED setting and be integrated members of the team.”
Surging security presence for short periods was only a “stop-gap measure”, she said.
Reti did not respond to the suggestion of 24/7 security. But he told Kaitiaki via email all EDs had the option of requesting extra security over summer, as they had last summer, and 20 had chosen to do so.
“I have made it very clear that violence against health workers is unacceptable and staff and patient safety is a priority for this Government.”
In December, Reti announced extra security “surges” for all hospital EDs over summer, as it could be a busy and stressful time.
That was part of a 2024 Budget $31 million four-year ED security package which included increased security for eight high-priority EDs — Middlemore, Waitematā, Waitakere, North Shore, Waikato, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
New de-escalation training
Also budgeted for was extra training in de-escalation and safe restraint for Te Whatu Ora’s security and clinical staff, which began rolling out this week. Training at all eight high-priority EDs would be completed by May 2025, Reti said.
Miller said nurses were pleased to hear about new training. But CENNZ — NZNO’s professional college of emergency nurses — had not been made aware of it, she said.
Miller said recent social and economic pressures had seen a rise in violence and aggression to “unacceptable levels”, particularly within EDs where people already tended to be highly stressed.
“Action must be taken to protect the safety of both patients and staff.”
Reti said he expected Te Whatu Ora to take “appropriate action to keep our valued health-care workers, patients and visitors safe in our hospitals and in communities”.
Te Whatu Ora has said it will be increasing security at Middlemore Hospital ED over coming weeks, with a police liaison officer being brought in and increased walk-throughs. Chief clinical officer Richard Sullivan also told RNZ they would be reviewing the placement of their alarm system, to ensure they were as easy to access for staff as possible.
In what is becoming a summer of violence for nurses, a community mental health nurse was stabbed during an acute after-hours callout in Rotorua last month.
See also: ‘I’m gonna rip your head from your body’ — ED nurse tells of constant aggression