Mental health nurses rally against assaults
Date Updated:
Nurses rally at Te Whetu Tawera. Mental health nurses at a New Zealand facility are fighting for safer working conditions. More than 213 assaults were reported at the Te Whetu Tawera mental health facility, located at the Auckland City Hospital, in the past 12 months alone. The push for better working conditions comes after a Nelson mental health nurse was almost killed and left permanently disfigured when a patient repeatedly stabbed her and then poured boiling water over her in the horrific attack, two years ago. Public Service Association spokesman Brendon Lane said the number of assaults, ranging from people being punched, choked and hit to kicked, grabbed and spat on, at the 50-plus nursing unit was unacceptable. “The violence against nurses in that ward in particular we would say was aggressive,” he said. “You are dealing with psychotic people and there are dangers there constantly – the nurses are suffering verbal and physical abuse. “We are particularly focusing on the physical abuse. The feedback from our members was that there was a lot of abuse and no-one was dealing with it.” Mental health workers rallied at the hospital on Tuesday, demanding a review and changes to the facility’s model of care. Mr Lane said better safety measures were needed along with improvements to staffing levels. “The District Health Board is trying to reduce the number of seclusions and their number of assaults is still high. Their model of care is not working,” he said. Related articles: Share your thoughts Related and Recent Articles
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