Security guard boosts safety at Gisborne Hospital ED, incidents decline

Senior house officer Dr Katherine Jarman (left), clinical director surgical/emergency services Dr Johann Peters and registered nurse Kayla Peters are pictured in Gisborne Hospital's Emergency Department. The number of "incidents" in ED have diminished since the introduction of a night security guard.

A security guard based in Gisborne Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) on night shift has proved his worth.

ED has benefitted from the guard’s presence since July 2022, Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora Tairāwhiti group director of operations John Swiatczak says.

“The safety and care of both our staff and our patients are our priorities. Any incident in our ED is too many, however, the number is low and from our current figures, they have declined since the introduction of the guard.”

Official figures show there were three “incidents” in December 2023, followed by respective monthly totals of 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 and 1 in June.

Swiatczak said the incidents covered verbal abuse, a person escorted off the site for loitering, a drunk man asked to leave and concerns about patients trying to leave ED when it may not be best for their medical care.

“Staff in our ED feel safer knowing that their department has their own security guard assigned to support them.

“This also frees up the main hospital security guards to deal with other security matters and provides backup with the ED security guard if the need arises.

“All the country’s hospitals are under pressure from winter illnesses, including ours. We recognise that this is very stressful for people, and so the security presence is reassuring.

“Security staff are often called to perform a ’walk-through’ and then usually stay in the area to avoid any further escalation.”

Incidents can happen at any time, and any day.

“At Gisborne Hospital, we feel that we have good coverage and support with two main security guards (general) per shift, one to two security orderlies on the floor per shift and the one night shift ED security guard.

“There are also other staff within our team trained and who can offer support if required and when on shift.”