Nurse stabbed, ice smoked in front of schoolchildren
MENTAL health patients are taking day leave from Robina Hospital to smoke ice in nearby road and train station links used by school students.
Hospital and police sources have contacted the Bulletin after a dangerous patient escaped from the hospital and two unreported stabbing incidents involving nurses occurred in the past month.
Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates, who has been campaigning for a police beat near the hospital, said she would alert the local school.
Hospital sources provided details of two locations – a culvert under Robina Town Centre Drive west of the hospital and a walkway to the railway station – where they had seen drug use by patients.
“I’ve gone off shift and seen patients from the mental health ward meet people under there. I’ve seen a patient with a pipe smoke ice when the kids have been coming in and out of school. It’s so wrong,” a hospital source said.
Nurses have been stabbed by patients using cooking utensils but the incidents were not made public, the source added.
“It is a common occurrence where staff are threatened with (a patient holding) a knife or fork. Most of the patients have access to metal cutlery in the kitchen area,” the source said.
After the Bulletin in 2015 exposed several “code black” incidents Queensland Health undertook a review which led to more security staff being appointed to the Robina and Gold Coast University hospitals. But staff believe security officers are “facing a losing battle” as the Coast is forced to house more dangerous drug-using patients.
“It’s the nursing staff who are copping it. Some patients are bringing drugs into the hospital on a daily basis,” a hospital source said.
“These patients are concealing the drugs. You can only do a search to a certain point. There is no X-raying. Sometimes they are hiding the drugs in the ward garden.”
A police source confirmed a Robina nurse had been recently stabbed and concerns were increasing for staff safety as fewer high security beds were unavailable in Brisbane.
Opposition Communities spokesperson Ros Bates said the Government was continuing to ignore the real threat to the community.
A Gold Coast Health spokesperson said allegations should be referred to police.