Break-out prompts hospital upgrade
A mental health patient who smashed their way through a set of locked doors in a Christchurch inpatient unit has prompted a security rethink.
The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) plans to replace wooden doors leading to four high care areas at Hillmorton Hospital’s acute inpatient unit, Te Awakura, with metal ones following Wednesday night’s incident.
About 9pm, a patient reportedly assaulted two nurses near one of the high care areas, agitating a person inside. That person then proceeded to smash through the locked doors. A nurse trying to stop them had her thumb broken and the nail ripped off in the process.
Police responded and one person was arrested and charged with willful damage.
Mental health services general manager Toni Gutschlag said the CDHB was ‘‘extremely concerned’’ by the incident. A serious event review would be carried out.
Gutschlag wanted to acknowledge the professionalism of staff in specialist mental health services and said many went ‘‘the extra mile’’ to keep patients safe.
‘‘People work in mental health for many reasons, generally the work is interesting and rewarding but I want to acknowledge that the work can be very tough at times.’’
A nurse at the hospital, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the incident was symptomatic of wider safety concerns for staff.
‘‘A simple thing like new doors is great, but it’s not going to stop nurses being exposed to violence,’’ she said, adding nurses were regularly going home with bruises from assaults.
‘‘Clearly NZNO believe this is a completely unacceptable situation, workers shouldn’t have to go to work and be assaulted. It’s not part of the job, and it can’t be normalised.’’ New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) organiser John Miller
New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) organiser John Miller said assaults on nurses at Hillmorton needed to stop.
‘‘Clearly NZNO believe this is a completely unacceptable situation, workers shouldn’t have to go to work and be assaulted. It’s not part of the job, and it can’t be normalised.’’
He did not know if the patient who broke out of the high care area was under the influence of any drug, but said in general methamphetamine was a ‘‘huge’’ contributing factor to the rate of assaults against staff.
Miller said questions needed to be asked about whether people on the drug should be admitted to the unit, or if they should detox elsewhere first.
The union is represented on working groups set up to look at minimising violence and verbal abuse at Te Awakura.