With placards in their hands, smiles on their faces, and their fists triumphantly raised high in the air, staff and members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) Clarence Valley Branch at Grafton Base Hospital (GBH) had cause for celebration on April 3 after they finally received the news they had been fighting hard for throughout the past couple of years.

Less than an hour before a planned work stoppage was scheduled to commence on the same day, the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) issued a statement, announcing it would increase security levels at the local healthcare institution following discussions with SafeWork NSW.

Since late 2023, GBH has had only one Health and Security Assistant (HSA) on site with that individual doubling as a security and a wards person for the duration of each of their shifts to cover and subsequently patrol the entire premises.

With between 300 and 400 patients transitioning through the Emergency Department (ED) each week, GBH staff including nurses and doctors have voiced concerns regarding their safety amidst an alarming increase in the number of patients who demonstrate aggressive and threatening behaviour (both physical and verbal) towards them and other members of the public.

Speaking with the Clarence Valley Independent last week, President of the NSWNMA Clarence Valley Branch Darren Demmery said he welcomed the announcement and revealed it followed numerous meetings between GBH staff and NSWNMA Clarence Valley Branch members with SafeWork NSW and NNSWLHD personnel.

“It’s taken a long road for us to get here,” he said. “And today, we finally got the news we wanted.

“It’s been announced the NNSWLHD will comply with the safe work notices and give us the security guards that we need in the hospital to keep us safe and to help keep our community safe.”

“We have been fighting for this for years,” said NSWNMA Clarence Valley Branch member Talissa (Tilly) Sparrow, who has worked as a nurse in the ED at GBH since 2023.

“This is the best news ever.

“All of us in the ED, we’ve all experienced incidents where we’ve felt our safety has been threatened, either physically or verbally.

“We’ve all experienced aggressive behaviour from patients, and we’ve all felt unsafe at some point.

“We don’t come to work to be threatened or harassed, we come to work because we love our jobs, and we love caring for people.

“We’re so grateful (for this announcement) because we need, and we want to feel safe in our workplace.”

Mr Demmery, who has worked at GBH for the past six years, revealed staff were elated to receive the news earlier that day.

“We met constantly over the last week or so, and our thoughts were if we didn’t get security employed fulltime in the ED department, we would have acted on our rights under Section 84 of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act, and we would have refused to work until that security was available,” he explained.

“Some of the incidents we’ve had to deal with in the last couple of weeks have involved staff having to tackle patients to keep both themselves and other patients in the ED safe.

“Sometimes the police have had to be called, sometimes they weren’t available to come straight away, and it was left to us to have to keep those patients from hurting anyone else until they arrived.

“We’re nurses, we’re not security guards, and we really shouldn’t have to be holding people to ensure our safety and the safety of others in our own workplace.

“The fact that we were able to push this through, get security guards, and provide the best care possible for all of our patients, this will make a huge difference to our safety and the safety of the community.”

Ms Sparrow said the recent announcement by the NNSWLHD improves the safety of staff, patients, and visitors at GBH.

“Our priority when we arrive at work is to provide care for all of our patients, and the fact that we’ve had to watch our backs continually to check that our safety and the safety of everyone else isn’t being compromised, that’s made it hard for us to do the job we love to do,” she said.

“The fact that we can get back to caring for our patients and not have to constantly look over our shoulders is huge, and we are so excited.”

NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish said the NNSWLHD has a duty to ensure nurses and midwives feel safe and secure in their workplace.

“Nurses must be able to perform their clinical duties and deliver high quality care in a safe working environment, where they don’t put themselves and other patients at risk,” she said.

“We called on the NNSWLHD to provide assurances that they will have security personnel at the ED at all times of the day and night on a permanent basis.

“Not only do our members deserve to feel safe, but so does the Clarence Valley community when seeking medical attention.”

In their statement, the NNSWLHD revealed they had worked constructively with SafeWork NSW to examine the issue of security at GBH and would increase staffing levels to ensure two Health and Security Assistants (HSAs) are rostered on a 24/7 basis on location.

NNSWLHD Chief Executive Tracey Maisey said the safety of staff, patients, and visitors is paramount, adding “our top priority is to provide safe, high-quality care to our patients and to ensure our staff have the support they need to provide this care.”

The NNSWLHD also stated a range of security improvements have already been implemented at GBH including upgrades to the digital personal duress alarm system, expansion of the duress response team, additional security awareness training, an increase in health and security staffing, and a CCTV upgrade across the campus.

The additional security had already been implemented at GBH when this edition of the Clarence Valley Independent went to print.

This article appeared in Clarence Valley Independent, 9 April 2025.