Potentially lethal weapons have been found at secure psychiatric units in Launceston and Burnie putting the lives of patients and health workers at risk, deputy Labor leader Michelle O’Byrne says.
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Ms O’Byrne told Parliament that for 10 weeks staff at Northside at the Launceston General Hospital and Spencer Clinic at the North West Regional Hospital had been asking for help in regard to concerns about their safety.
She showed photos of knives that she said had been found.
“Staff are genuinely frightened and we need to find a solution before someone is hurt or killed as has happened in other states,” Ms O’Byrne said.
“We must be able to find a solution to this problem so staff are safe.”
She also raised concerns about a shortage of duress alarms for staff at Northside.
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said it was “obnoxious and false” to suggest that he was not concerned about staff safety.
“Our staff and our managers work very closely to protect each other's welfare in their workplace in some of the very challenging areas of our hospitals and inpatient and outpatient services,” he said.
Mental Health Services clinical executive director Adie Gibbons said one of Tasmanian Health Service’s top priorities was the health and safety of its employees.
“We have a very clear zero tolerance policy of threatening behaviour or assault against our staff,” Ms Gibbons said.
“Staff are able to have any patient searched, and any object or item that constitutes a potential threat can be confiscated.”
Ms Gibbons said there had been issues with staff at Northside taking duress alarms home after their shifts but new alarms had been bought and additional sign-in and sign-out protocols established to ensure they were not inadvertently misplaced.
Health and Community Services Union assistant secretary Robbie Moore said concerns had been raised for a number of months about safety of workers in mental health units.
“We have a situation where workers cannot ensure their own safety because they cannot search patients who are admitted to inpatient mental health units,” Mr Moore said.
“We have been negotiating with management and, to be fair, they have been hamstrung by the fact that they cannot get relevant advice in relation to the issue of searching patients and their possessions.
“All the while, our members continue to discover through various means that patients have knives, scissors, tweezers and other weapons.
“We don’t want to see a situation that has happened in other parts of Australia where health workers have been attacked and seriously injured or worse by patients armed with a weapon.”