Attempted strangulation, punching and chair throwing are among the violent acts on Sunshine mental health services staff gradually being accepted as part of the job, the Health and Community Services Union has said.
The union claimed in a statement released on Friday that an alarming 17 physical assaults and violent incidents have already been reported by mental health workers at Sunshine Hospital during January and February this year.
Incidents reported to management included an attempted strangulation of a worker and, in a separate altercation, a staff member was punched in the face by a patient.
Staff have also had chairs thrown at them, been bitten and head butted by patients the union members have said.
But NorthWestern Mental Health, which oversees the Sunshine mental health services, rejected the assertion that senior management dismisses the seriousness of violence against staff.
Executive director Ruth Vine said management does not accept that violence is an expected part of providing mental health services and treats any incidence of violence with the utmost seriousness.
“ We take active steps to prosecute the perpetrators of violent assaults, especially when these assaults are by visitors to our service,” she said.
“We acknowledge that our staff deal with impulsive and sometimes aggressive patients and that sometimes the level of verbal and physical aggression is exacerbated by drug use, especially methamphetamine.
“Our staff are skilled and highly professional and they provide care to people during some of the most difficult and vulnerable times in their lives.”
Deterrents
Ms Vine said NorthWestern Mental Health had already put in place deterrents such as CCTV, drug detector dogs and support our staff to search and remove any drugs that may be brought onto the premises.
“We train our staff in how to pre empt and manage aggression in clinical services and are actively working with staff to seek their views on other ways of dealing with these difficult situations,” she said.
Union assistant state secretary Paul Healey said a culture of tolerated violence against staff in mental health services was spreading across Victoria.
“Sunshine hospital senior management claim no verbal or physical aggression is tolerated, but this has as much reality to it as Donald Trump claiming he’s going to build a wall across America to keep out the Mexicans,” he said.
Prison patients
Mr Healey said a major factor at Sunshine was the numerous referrals of people coming straight out of the prison system, often causing massive disruption to services.
He also blamed an underlying issue of a lack of state government investment in the hospital which caters to one of the state’s largest growth corridors.
“The Victorian Government has refused to fund enough beds to properly cater for this part of our community,” Mr Healy said.
“The government has committed to tackling violence in Victorian mental health services but there was no evidence of any effective results and the situation is getting rapidly worse.
“We need the government to take a series of decisive measures. That includes better staffing, regulations that make senior management accountable for staff safety and improved building design.”
