Werribee Mercy Hospital will upgrade its emergency department in a bid to prevent violence against staff and patients.
The hospital has received $212,000 from the state government’s health service violence prevention fund.
The money will be used to re-configure the department’s triage area and security office to improve staff views into waiting areas and reduce risks to staff and patients. Work is expected to start in coming months.
The funding comes in response to a 2015 Victorian Auditor-General’s report that found that nurses, doctors, paramedics and other healthcare workers across the state faced particular risks because “they are at the frontline when it comes to dealing with people in stressful, unpredictable and potentially volatile situations”.
Mercy Health health services chief executive Linda Mellors said the hospital was thrilled to receive the funding. Adjunct Professor Mellors said the hospital recorded 117 incidents of violence and aggression towards staff in 2016.
“Patient and staff safety is our highest priority,” she said.
“We are constantly looking at what preventative measures we can implement to make our emergency department at Werribee Mercy Hospital a safer space.”
State Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the funding would make a big difference to the hospital staff’s work conditions.
“Our dedicated healthcare workers put themselves in incredibly vulnerable positions on our frontline,” she said.
“They deserve to feel as safe and secure as possible in the important work they do.”
Werribee MP Tim Pallas also lauded the move.
“Wyndham’s health workers and their patients will now be safer and more secure thanks to this funding boost to deliver the added protection they deserve,” he said.
