The New Zealand Nurses Organisation – Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa – is now considering whether to call for nurses to be issued with vests and alarms.
The organisation and the Public Service Association are also calling for a full investigation by Te Whatu Ora and WorkSafe, and for the matter to be referred to the Health Quality Safety Commission.
Other mental health nurses were “so worried about their safety”, the NZNO said.
Incidents like these had become more frequent in recent years, spokesperson Mitchell McLaughlan told RNZ.
“We are seeing escalating aggressive behaviours in the community.
“More members of our society are presenting as highly distressed because of their social and financial situations, increased drug use along with a swell in anti-social behaviours.
“We want to discuss whether extra security measures such as personal alarms or stab-proof vests should be worn from now on by nurses and kaiāwhina working in mental health.”
McLaughlan said the nurse who had been stabbed was “extremely traumatised” and had quit her job of more than 20 years as a result of the incident.
“A personal alarm is very helpful because, in that particular situation, there were two people there, [and] it would have allowed the other person to quickly denote where the individual had got to.
“We are concerned that, because of the nature of the business, we are going to see more of these incidents in the future.”
In August, then-Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced the police would start the transition to no longer respond to every mental health-related call from November 1.
Nurses had become increasingly vulnerable as a result, NZNO mental health nurses section chair Helen Garrick said.
In October, Mark Quinn from the Ambulance Association called for stab-proof vests for all workers.
However, PSA health national sector lead Sue McCullough said it was not something the union had heard from its members.
“It’s concerning that we would get to that stage where people need that kind of protection, to be honest,” she told RNZ.
“In mental health units, the staff tend to wear plain clothes, rather than being in anything that looks like a uniform, and that could also exacerbate issues.
“But, certainly, we want our members to be safe, and it is about preventing these things happening rather than having something to protect them when it does.”
McCullough said incidents like these highlighted the consequences of the Government’s “relentless” cuts.
“These funding cuts, along with short staffing, will continue to endanger the entire health care system and all New Zealanders' health and wellbeing.”
Te Whatu Ora and the Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti have been approached for comment.
- RNZ
