Keeping night shift nurses safe
In the wake of another attack on a nurse on our city streets, the spotlight is again on safety measures to keep shift-working hospital workers safe. Are we doing enough? Cate Broughton reports.
Walking to my new home alone for the first time recently I found myself on Hagley Ave after dark. The street was not as well lit as I had expected and the path inside the park didn’t seem to have much lighting at all. The beautiful South Hagley Park was a dark no man’s land beyond the path.
It was only 7pm but the street was already deserted.
Many of the more than 540 nurses and health care assistants on afternoon or night shifts make their way to or from Christchurch Hospital between 10.30pm and midnight.
Some are dropped off or picked up, cycle, walk or bus but it is likely the majority drive and especially during winter.
The recent assault of a nursing student in Hagley Ave has raised a long-standing concern about safety for hospital workers.
In November 2015 the New Zealand Nursing Organisation first raised concerns with the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) about a lack of affordable, safe parking close to the hospital after a midwife was harassed by a man smashing bottles and abusing her in Hagley Ave at about 11.30pm.
Christchurch organiser Christin Watson from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said at the time the issue of post-shift safety was ‘‘a constant worry’’ for nurses, and especially more than 500 staff who did not have access to one of two nearby staff car parks.
As of this week, there were 453 nurses in total on wait lists for two dedicated staff car parking sites on Antigua St and St Asaph St, a CDHB spokeswoman said.
Watson said there were many nurses who would love to have access to the staff parks but had not even bothered joining the waiting list as it was so long.
Nurses were being forced to park further and further away from the hospital, some as far as Moorehouse Ave, he said.
In April last year a nurse was threatened by a masked man pressing what may have been a firearm to her head after she left her car, parked on Riccarton Ave and made her way to the hospital for her early morning shift start.
At the time it came to light there had been three other incidents of nurses attacked or abused on their way to or from the hospital in the previous 18 months.
Upset at the situation and the lack of action, a group of nurses petitioned the CDHB to urgently address the issue.
A meeting with CDHB chief executive David Meates and Christchurch City Council chief executive Dr Karleen Edwards followed and the parties committed to work together on the issue, Watson said.
Meates said he remained ‘‘deeply concerned’’ about the safety of all staff and patients and their ability to safely get to and from the hospital.
‘‘While the recent assault was on a student nurse, this isn’t solely a nursing or DHB issue.
‘‘We continue to work closely with the police and council, who all want Christchurch to be safe city, with a vibrant inner-city.
‘‘We aspire for Christchurch to be a liveable in city where workers can walk to or from work, unafraid, at any time of the day or night.’’
A CDHB spokeswoman said three privately owned car parks at the King Edward Barracks, Tuam St and Acton St were leased and non-clinical staff who had previously parked in the staff car park were transferred to those.
‘‘This freed up parking for shiftworking clinical staff to park closer to the hospital.’’
For those with access to staff car parking a shuttle was set up to take them to and from the hospital between 9pm and 1am.
Security guard numbers were bolstered with 10 guards on duty for each 12-hour shift and a security patrol vehicle monitored the areas around the hospital during evenings.
The CDHB had taken ‘‘ a lot of steps’’ to ensure the safety of staff but they did not go far enough, Watson said.
As an employer the CDHB had a responsibility for the safety of staff while they made their way to or from the
‘‘If you are expecting [nurses] to work at night . . . you need to ensure that when they are vulnerable like that they are safe.’’ Christchurch organiser Christin Watson from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation
hospital.
‘‘If you are expecting them to work at night, you absolutely have a responsibility, where they could end up being alone or vulnerable because of the way you are asking them to work ... you need to ensure that when they are vulnerable like that they are safe.
‘‘They have a responsibility to look after everybody, not just people that can have a car park.’’
A parking committee set up last year had not met at all this year.
‘‘The meetings are not that useful to us because all they do is update us on the staff car park waiting lists,’’ Watson said.
Across the health precinct area 152 onstreet parks had been lost temporarily or permanently in the past year as a result of road works and changes to traffic design, Christchurch City Council operations transport manager Steffan Thomas said.
Following the most recent assault Watson wrote to Christchurch Hospital manager Pauline Clark on Wednesday this week requesting a meeting to discuss the staff concerns.
‘‘They think they are doing as much as they can budget-wise but it’s our job to convince them that they are required to do more.’’
While the NZNO energies were mainly directed at the DHB, Watson said other agencies should be responding too.
The Christchurch City Council was in ‘‘ongoing’’ discussions with ‘‘key partner organisations’’ regarding parking for and around the hospital, operations transport manager Steffan Thomas said.
Thomas said a regular meeting was held with the CDHB on April 19 to discuss parking around the hospital but there was no outcome, he said.
There were no CCTV cameras in the health precinct and an installation programme was a matter for police, Thomas said.
Lighting on Hagley Ave and Riccarton Ave was ‘‘to a good standard’’ for roads which were minor arterials and ‘‘therefore lit to a traffic route standard which also sets requirements for the footpath’’.
Police could support organisations by providing a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessment of any public space that was causing concern, Canterbury Metro Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said.
The strategy aims to ensure town planning considers elements to reduce crime such as good lighting of public spaces and making changes to vegetation that could make criminal activity easier. CPTED was enthusiastically endorsed by the council as part of the city’s redevelopment and features prominently in the Safer Christchurch Strategy 2016-2021.
However, Todd said there had been no request for a CPTED or security assessment from the CDHB.
It was not something the police would initiate without the collaboration of other agencies.
‘‘In my view that would have to be a multi-agency look at that so the DHB, the council and perhaps us to a lesser degree and looking at some problem solving around that.
‘‘But what I would say is at this stage we haven’t been asked for that.’’
According to the council’s Safer Christchurch Strategy 2016-2021, a Safer Christchurch Strategy Group would be established and include representation from the CDHB and the police among other community agencies.
A council spokeswoman was not able to say whether the group had been formed yet and if so, what its priorities were.
NZNO lead organiser for Auckland Carol Beaumont said the union was committed to advocating for a reduction of gender-based violence, in all its forms on behalf of its mainly female workforce.
Employers, police, governments and unions all had a responsibility to create safer environments through addressing the culture that created violence, practical safety measures, legislative changes and support for victims, Beaumont said.
In the meantime Todd’s advice for hospital workers who were walking alone at night was to have personal safety awareness.
‘‘We encourage people to have an awareness of what’s around your environment.’’
Todd said carrying any kind of weapon, even scissors, was not recommended.
‘‘Our advice is not to carry a weapon because there’s two or three things that can go wrong, it can get turned against you, secondly . . . you could go from being victim to being the offender so things can go pretty terribly wrong pretty quickly.’’