‘Unrelenting’ patient violence triggers call for improved security
Bernadette Mulholland said hospital admin recognised that doctors were facing an increased risk of violence.
Bed block, drug use and the failure to equip EDs for acute mental illness are responsible for rising rates of patient violence, doctors warn.
Patients smashing windows and ignoring treatment orders were just two examples that doctors gave to the SA Salaried Medical Officers Association’s chief industrial officer, Bernadette Mulholland, for a report to SafeWork SA.
The increase in violence at Flinders Medical Centre ED had shocked doctors, the June report said.
One patient who had been sleeping in the ED emerged from a cubicle yelling, “I will destroy everything,” Ms Mulholland wrote.
