Hospital staff face growing threat of assault

A survey of Queensland nurses and midwives has found that almost 50 per cent are experiencing increased violence in the state’s hospitals, clinics and aged care facilities.

The study involved around 2,400 participants from the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union and was led by Central Queensland University research fellow Desley Hegney.

Its findings follow public anger over the death in June of Melbourne surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann after he was assaulted in the foyer of Box Hill hospital.