Barwon Health
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:32): (1362) My question is to the Minister for Health. On 29 May two Geelong hospital midwives were assaulted and chased back into the hospital after a night shift. These very skilled nurses are forced to park blocks away on dimly lit streets because Barwon Health provides no safe staff parking. A survey of staff has since found that every single respondent feels unsafe walking to their car. The protective shuttle bus has been axed and security escorts are being refused. Minister, what will you do, and by when, to keep these workers safe?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:32): Thank you, Mrs McArthur, for that question. Occupational violence and aggression is something which I have turned my mind to in discussions with ministerial colleagues, with counterparts in other states, with people working across the health system on the front line and with those people who are managing our health services and the adjacent services that people across Victoria deserve and rely upon. It is never acceptable to intimidate or harass anybody in any workplace, and it is never acceptable for those workers in our health system, who quite literally come to our aid in our most vulnerable of moments, to be exposed to any disrespect. We are having this conversation in the aftermath of some really distressing incidents that have occurred, matters which have had a lot of public coverage and that have also been part of ongoing conversations that I am having, that Minister Stitt is having and that Minister Blandthorn and others are having. This is where we have invested more than $47 million into initiatives and training to prevent and respond to occupational violence and aggression. That includes everything from de-escalation training to the safe wards model and the work that is happening within the Department of Health and Safer Care Victoria. There is always more work to do, though. There is no finish line when it comes to addressing the obligations and responsibilities that governments and health services have to make and keep people safe.
Those staff at Barwon who have been exposed to these really, really distressing experiences deserve our continued support and engagement. It has been really distressing, so police have been engaged and staff at Barwon are being supported. Barwon Health, I am advised, are taking a range of actions to address those security arrangements that have been discussed. When I was there, I actually had a look around the physical environment. There is a lot of construction happening there, but in addition to that there is car parking that is available. It is not free parking in the way that free parking is available some distance away. We have got the new appointment of David Pattie as an emergency management and security coordinator. That is a move that has been welcomed by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. It is my expectation that Barwonwill continue to work really closely with staff and with partners to identify those OVA concerns. I also want to make sure that we continue to support people as they work in a clinical environment and as they get to and from work to stay safe and to have the systems and supports around them that recognise the importance of safe systems of work. We will need to keep having those conversations. I am committed to continuing to have these conversations, and we are continuing to invest the funding to support workers to do what they do in a safe way.
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:36): I still do not hear how these nurses instantly in Geelong are going to be made safe. The Nurses’ Professional Association of Australia wrote to you on 5 June demanding a response within 14 days. Staff told the hospital survey they no longer report attacks because they believe nothing will change. Minister, will you prove them wrong? Reinstate the shuttle bus, fund 24/7 security escorts and deliver safe, lit parking – or do Geelong’s midwives have to wait for the next assault before this government acts?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:36): Mrs McArthur, I went to these matters in some significant detail in the answer to your substantive question, but I am going to say it again. Everybody deserves a safe workplace. Whether you are, again, selling a T-shirt or giving someone an organ transplant, you deserve a safe workplace. You deserve to be able to go to work and work in a way that is free from harassment or intimidation or the threat of violence. Wherever there is a case of that occurring, we need to make sure that our systems are sufficiently equipped to make sure information is being exchanged, that systems are robust and that we are working across different agencies. This is where just recently I had another set of conversations with stakeholders on occupational violence and aggression in frontline service delivery. This is where, again, we have had a number of conversations in this place and in parliamentary inquiries. Minister Stitt and I have most recently had another occupational violence and aggression round table, and that work goes on.