Documents from the Official Information Act that stuff.co.nz obtained tells of more than 10,000 cases of physical, verbal, psychological, sexual assault and abuse occurring in district health boards (DHBs) over the last four years.
Canterbury DHB recorded the worse numbers, including 2,383 physical assaults, 1,450 verbal abuse incidents, and 380 psychological harm cases from February 20, 2016 to February 20 of this year. Drew Mayhem, organizer of the New Zealand Nurse Organization, notes that nurses are increasingly confronting patients “prone to explode under stress,” and that emergency departments are in desperate need of a redesign. “If you have to look at the physical environment, it’s not being utilized to its best capacity,” Mayhem says.
Waitematā DHB, which has the biggest population among all DHBs, notes that there is a direct connection with population size and the risk of healthcare staff being subject to violence. “Employees deal with a broad cross-section of the community in their day-to-day work, and this often involves reaching out to people when they are at their most vulnerable and anxious, including those with mental health conditions, which can result in unpredictable behaviours,” says Fiona McCarthy, Waitematā DHB human resources director.