The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation is calling on the state government to improve security across all regional hospitals in South Australia.
The union wants 24/7 security guards to be posted at all regional hospitals after a man smashed a dozen windows at the Wallaroo Hospital last month.
Federation chief executive Elizabeth Dabars visited the Wallaroo and Port Pirie Hospital to launch a campaign to end violence towards nurses and hear from staff about the horrors they faced.
The Yorke and Northern Local Health Network is now reviewing security measures at the in light of the event.
Not an isolated incident
Ms Dabars said staff and patients had been subjected to a terrifying incident which needed urgent attention.
"Our nurses are sadly experiencing these types of events on a weekly if not daily basis," she said.
"They're frightened and feeling unsupported."
She said there were "so many" incidents that were not being witnessed by the broader community.
"People are becoming more aggressive, and more violence is occurring in the workplace," she said.
Ms Dabars said there was a review into hospital security five years ago after staff were getting their vehicles keyed and their tyres slashed.
"We understand that they [Yorke and Northern Local Health Network] promised things like CCTV cameras and better lighting, but nothing has ever resulted from that," she said.
"We think de-escalation training for staff is important and we've discovered that there is only one restraint-trained security guard for the entire region.
She said many of the local health networks had been reluctant to act on the issues.
"Actions are louder than words and our midwives and nurses deserve to feel safe and secure at work," she said.
Review in progress
Health Minister Chris Picton said violence had no place in hospitals and healthcare staff deserved to feel safe at work.
"After the concerning incident at Wallaroo Hospital recently, I immediately asked the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network Board to conduct a review and consider any security improvements that need to be made," Mr Picton said.
"We continue to engage with unions including the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation on the 10-point plan to end violence and aggression in the workplace."
He said 24/7 security had recently been implemented at Port Lincoln and Mount Gambier and other health boards were constantly reviewing what improvements needed to be made.
The union will soon launch an online petition to get better security measures at the Wallaroo and Port Pirie hospitals.
