A patient who tried to strangle a nurse at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Monday was reportedly dropped off by police at the emergency department and was unprovoked before the attack.
More details of the assault have come to light in an article in the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) publication Kaitiaki.
A 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted strangulation.
Kaitiaki reported that the Middlemore nurse was one of three nurses on duty in the ED’s short-stay unit on Monday afternoon and was about to change the patients' dressing when the man attacked him.
A colleague told Katiaki the patient had been dropped off at the ED by police.
An NZNO delegate and nurse colleague told Kaitiaki the patient had not been flagged as dangerous or a mental health patient and had acted without any provocation.
RNZ has sought police comment about the details of the patient handover.
The patient who attempted to strangle a nurse at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Monday was reportedly dropped off by police at ED. Photo / Doug Sherring
Kaitiaki reported the nurse was now recovering in hospital with lacerations and was “highly traumatised and upset”, according to another nursing colleague.
It reported that a staff member said it took five colleagues, including a nurse who is a skilled rugby player - to get the man off before hospital security and police arrived.
A nurse colleague told Kaitiaki that while there is usually a security presence in the ED, the guards were not present at the time.
“I don’t know why security didn’t turn up ... sometimes it will take a while because they are covering all the hospital,” they told the publication.
They said staff were traumatised and afraid, and had requested strengthened security that included guards stationed at the ED at all times.
The staff told Kaitiaki that those affected have been given a week off work, but that so far no one has been offered mental health support, including the victim.
Health New Zealand (HNZ) Counties Manukau acting group director of operations Dana Ralph-Smith said Middlemore Hospital is one of eight high-priority EDs which received an increased security budget over the summer period.
Ralph-Smith said they continue to work closely with staff and hospital security.
When asked if Middlemore Hospital has an adequate budget for security, Ralph-Smith referred RNZ to the Health Minister’s commitment of $31 million to eight high-priority EDs, including Middlemore Hospital, over four years to improve security.
When asked about the current status of the assaulted nurse, Ralph-Smith said she couldn’t comment further to protect the privacy of the staff member.
RNZ has approached HNZ for further comment on the reports from staff members over the lack of security staff at ED when the incident happened and also comments from staff that they haven’t been offered counselling after the incident.
Health Minister Shane Reti has also been approached for comment.
NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku was not available for an interview but said in a statement that nurses were working in increasingly challenging environments.
“Nurses are increasingly facing volatile situations as hardship grows. Whānau are struggling with the stress of the rising cost of living and this leads to increasing levels of frustration which play out during home visits or long wait times at emergency departments,” she said.
This is the second security incident at Middlemore Hospital over the past week. On Saturday a firearm was discharged in the hospital’s carpark.
