Dubbo Hospital staff have joined in on an industrial strike aiming to force the government to take action on the issue of violence directed at health workers and patients.
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Members of the Health Services Union, including security staff, positioned themselves outside the hospital during an arranged 'stop work' demonstration as part of a larger, state-wide effort to draw attention to the issue.
Western HSU Union Organiser Zelda Giblett said that union officials had been trying to negotiate a result with Health NSW since 2016 and that the situation had reached a breaking point, particularly for regional hospitals in area like Dubbo.
READ ALSO: NSW hospital workers strike over safety
"I've got whole hospitals with no security, or just one security officer for eight hours of a day, which is completely insufficient, especially given the lack of 24 hour policing in the rural areas," Ms Giblett said.
A spokesperson for NSW Health said that the organisation was committed to improving security in hospitals after commissioning a review into the security in NSW Hospitals.
"NSW Health remains committed to addressing security issues with its workforce and ensuring that our hospitals are safe and welcoming places for our staff, patients and visitors," The spokesperson said.
That report is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, but a interim report released in February recommended a number of changes that the spokesperson said NSW Health were already pursuing.
Ms Giblett said the number of violent incidents across the state had risen to approximately 40 incidents a month, and that incidents in Mudgee and Dubbo had required a police response due to under resourced security staff.
"In Mudgee, police have had to have been called twice and Safe Work Australia made the recommendation that the security person should be stationed near the accident and emergency department 24/7, and they haven't even followed up on that."
"We want our guys to have safety in numbers, so at least two security staff at all times dealing with difficult clients or patients."
Ms Giblett said that security staff in NSW hospitals currently didn't have the ability to deal with difficult or violent people on their own.
"They don't have the power to stop people from attacking people, they can only say 'please stop' and then, if they don't stop, they have to call the police."
"They need the tools and the personnel to ensure people are safe."
NSW Health said that over $20 million had already been invested into improving and upgrading security equipment and measures across NSW hospitals.
"Across NSW, $19 million has been invested to improve security in emergency departments at public hospitals, upgrading CCTV systems, improving access controls between public and staff areas and installing remote locking to public access doors."
"In addition, more than $5 million has been invested to upgrade duress alarms for staff in emergency departments, which they are mandated to wear while on duty."
Ms Giblett indicated that the industrial action would likely continue and ramp up, after the only concession made by NSW Health was an agreement do a three month trial in Wyong and Gosford involving more staff and more proactive security measures.
"That's a metro area, they already have twenty for hour policing in place, they're not looking at the issues in the regional areas," Ms Giblett said.
"The Ministry of Health actually brought in more security staff to protect themselves from protesters in North Sydney who were picketing for more security today. It's unbelievable, I don't know what you can say to that."
