Steady increase in occupational violence incidents against healthcare workers at Canberra Health Services
There has been a steady year-on-year increase in the number of occupational violence incidents reported at Canberra Health Services. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
In short:
There has been a steady increase in the number of occupational violence incidents at Canberra Health Services since 2021.
Canberra Hospital's executive director of medicine Rebekah Ogilvie said it was "an area of increasing concern".
What's next?
Dr Ogilvie said they are working on providing systems of support and risk assessment tools for staff.
Canberra Health Services says a stronger reporting culture and more awareness of gendered violence are contributing factors in rising reports of physical and verbal violence in the health system.
Newly released figures show the number of occupational violence incidents at Canberra Health Services (CHS) is steadily increasing, year on year.
A record high of 2,460 incidents were reported in the 2024-2025 financial year.
Comparatively, there were 1,196 incidents of occupational violence reported in the 2021-2022 financial year.
That figure has increased every year since, and from July 1 to November 10 this year, there have already been 1,018 incidents reported.
"It's certainly an area of increasing concern for Canberra Health Services," Canberra Hospital executive director of medicine Rebekah Ogilvie said.
"We provide care and support for patients and families at some of the most stressful times in their lives, and we understand that these times are often emotional and can become heightened.
"But when they become violent and aggressive it becomes completely unacceptable for our staff."
Hospital says reporting increasing
The occupational violence incidents data was released by ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith this week, in response to a question on notice asked by former Canberra Liberals leader Leanne Castley during the ACT's Standing Committee on Social Policy.
The 2024-2025 financial year was the first to include data from the previously Catholic-owned North Canberra Hospital.
There was an increase in incidents of occupational violence even before numbers from North Canberra Hospital — which was previously Calvary Public Hospital — were added to the data set. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
But Dr Ogilvie, who is also the OH&S executive sponsor for the Occupational Violence Portfolio, said the increase in incidents was also caused by more reporting.
"I'm acknowledging that in the 24-25 [financial year], we saw North Canberra Hospital come into the CHS family, so that did see an increase there," she said.
"[But] we certainly are still seeing a greater than 55 per cent increase even just prior to that.
"From our perspective, the increase is certainly driven by improved internal systems and a stronger reporting culture within the organisation, alongside some national trends emphasising transparency and compliance.
"And then we think about across Canberra, we've got increased regulatory engagement, higher compliance expectation and cultural shifts that are driving a more proactive reporting process.
"We're more aware as a society around gendered violence, the impacts of drugs and alcohol, and the changing norms within work health safety portfolios [which] is shaping a workforce that's increasingly engaged and safety conscious."
But one emergency doctor told ABC Radio Canberra they suspected the figures were "under-reported".
"We are verbally abused and regularly have physical threats from patients," they said.
"I have removed a knife that a patient was actively wielding on two occasions. I've never put in a report for these incidents because it's virtually business as usual. The nurses are probably the most affected by this."
Another Canberra Hospital staff member said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers were treated as "heroes and angels".
"Now, we just get verbally abused when entitled Canberrans don't get what they want immediately," they said.
"Sad times to be a healthcare worker."
Rebekah Ogilvie says occupational violence is becoming an increasing concern. (Supplied: Canberra Health Services)
Safe working environment a 'top priority'
Dr Ogilvie said occupational violence happened in community services and home visits, as well as in hospitals.
"We saw a broad rollout [of a risk assessment tool] across community services six months ago, after a couple of incidents in the community of occupational violence," she said.
"That's been really successful in really understanding the risk that's sitting for workers that are not just on site, because occupational violence in our workplace can happen in somebody's home or in the community environment."
CHS was issued safety notices by WorkSafe ACT over home visit assaults in April.
There had been four assaults on nurses or allied health workers carrying out home visits, which the watchdog said had "serious potential to result in the death of a person".
Dr Ogilvie said CHS was working on providing systems of support.
"Providing that safe working environment for our team is our top priority,"she said.
"We've just rolled out … a risk assessment tool for anyone who's coming into the organisation, into the emergency department, that just gives staff the ability to do a quick three questions they answer that are just a yes, no.
"It gives us an ability to understand, is there a risk here that I need to consider in caring for this person? And then we have services that wrap around those things."
Dr Ogilvie said another concern was the increased risk of violent incidents when hospital staff were stretched thin or wait times were longer which, in turn, could lead to staff shortages.
"Those situations do increase the risk of an occupational violence situation and … we are certainly trying to manage that better," she said.
"The workforce is tight nationally and internationally, and these are some of the things that are impacting our workforce."