Nurse and doctor hurt in Sydney hospital attack as NSW adds 129 guards

A patient at Concord Hospital in Sydney's inner west allegedly attacked two staff members on Tuesday morning, leaving a nurse with a broken wrist and a doctor with a head injury. Police said the 44-year-old female patient was restrained and sedated after the alleged assault on the women, aged 34 and 57. Health Minister Ryan Park confirmed both required medical treatment.

In an email to staff, hospital management called it a and described the two as having been by a mental health consumer. The email said one of them needs time off to recover, and that despite a number of violence prevention initiatives already running, deeply disappointing that these measures were not yet able to protect our team.

The alleged attack came a day before the NSW government announced it will recruit 129 extra full-time security staff across 27 hospitals statewide to close gaps in security ratios. Park said extra guards make it far easier to handle challenging patients, visitors and people coming into hospitals, because staff feel supported. Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes said the boost means hospitals can prevent issues rather than just respond to them, describing a hospital as a of the community now under pressure.

Bruce Rowling, a security guard at Royal North Shore Hospital, said he has been injured on the job many a time — his worst injury came while restraining a male patient, when his thumb was pulled out of its socket and his tendons ripped. He said a hospital with about 650 beds usually has four security staff on at a time, and the rough guide of one guard per 100 people isn't achievable once visitors and hospital staff are counted.

Park pointed to changing drug use as a driver of emergency department violence, saying heroin 20 years ago affected the body differently than what we see now, particularly methamphetamine, which can bring pretty frightening issues for staff and security officers. He said the government is working closely with police on how those patients are handled in hospital settings.

Rowling said Sydney's underworld crime also spills into hospitals, with friends and relatives of patients turning up and not always liking each other, and that guards take up the slack when police lack capacity to watch patients. He noted security officers get training but hold no extra powers than the average citizen. Park said the government has not made a decision on expanding those powers, adding that additional powers come with other challenges.