Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Cath Hatcher opens up about several serious incidents at Alice Springs Hospital

Transcript

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Cath Hatcher opens up about several serious incidents at Alice Springs Hospital · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Over the weekend, we know that a doctor revealed the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: horror confronting demoralized staff at the Alice Springs Hospital as
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: they tried to deal with extreme alcohol fueled violence and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: parental neglect in Central Australia. Now, the doctor who spoke
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to Sky News to Matt Cunningham on the condition of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: being anonymous, told Matt that the hospital had treated patients
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: including a baby who'd been sexually assaulted and a woman
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: whose husband had tried to cut her head off. Now
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is the head
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of the Nursing and Midwiffree Federation of the Northern Territory, Hatcher,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the secretary. Good morning to you, Cath.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie Kath.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: What are you hearing on the ground in Alice Springs
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: from the nurses that work at the hospital.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Terrible things. Actually, we've had multiple calls and emails over
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks. There was an assault of
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: a nurse at the car the new car park. By
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: fifty they knew there was a sexual assault by a
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: doctor at the accommodation within the grounds of the hospital.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Cars are getting smashed windows when they come off their work.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: They're scared to walk out to their car. Sometimes they're
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: even scared to drive home, depending on what day, the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: time of night, or day it is. They're getting it
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: more verbally and physically assaulted within the hospital caring for patients,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and they're really completely over it. They're tired, they're fatigued,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and they want some more action CAT to help.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Can I just go back to that? So, did you
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: just say that there was a doctor who was sexually
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: assaulted in the new car.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Park at the accommodation ground somewhere on campus, somewhere around
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the hospital accommodation there.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, how long ago did that happen?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: About a week to ten days ago? Oh? My, I
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: don't know anymore. I don't know any more information to that,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: but you may need to talk to the doctor's union.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: But it is terrible and it shouldn't be happening.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: You're dead right, cas. You also said that a nurse
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: was assaulted by up to fifteen youths.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's physically not harmed, but she was walking out
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: to her car at eight point thirty Saturday evening into
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the new secure car park. Somehow these fifteen youths got
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: into the secure area of the car park and they
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: were demanding various things keys, wallet, money, etc. Her They
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: didn't physically assault her, but they pinned her into the
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: corner and you know, she's emotionally traumatized by that. And
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: luckily someone came along and they were you know, they
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: ran away, but I don't know how they got into
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the accommodation or sorry, the secure area of the new
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: car park there, but it shouldn't happen. And at any
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: one time there is only two security guards roaming inside
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: or outside of the hospital. They have now put another
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: security guard on twenty four to seven, which has made
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to three over a twenty four hour period, seven days
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: a week, which I think they probably need more, although
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I did hear yesterday from the regional area director that
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: there is now four on a night duty of security guards.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Good cat, yeah, And I'm not too sure whether that's
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: enough either. But I am going down to Alice Springs
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: on Thursday morning for two days and with one of
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: my colleagues, and we're just going to walk around and
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: face to face and talk with all of our members
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: rather than getting them to ring or email us.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I reckon that's a really good idea and finding out
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: exactly how they're feeling I mean, is it getting more
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: difficult to retain stuff in Central Australia at the moment,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to retain nurses.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. There was something written on the Sky News
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the other day on the weekend. I'm not sure whether
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it's true or not, but the new graduates that are
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: starting over the next month or two have decreased, So
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: that was on the Sky News. So instead of day
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: forty four starting, there was about half now that are
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: not starting their graduate program of nursing in all of
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Springs Now. I don't know how true that is, but yes,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: the people down there that are saying they've had enough there.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: If they have homes, they're trying to sell their homes
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: or rent it out and they're moving. They've even people
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: that have lived there twenty thirty years they said it's
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: really bad. They're not waiting around, they're leaving.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Kas that report by Matt Cunningham from Sky News, it
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: noted quite a few horrifying things. But I do want
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: to ask you about the nurses accommodation. My understanding is
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: that there is security for the nursing accommodation that's on site,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: but what about that that's off site. Do they have security?
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I don't know, so these some of the questions
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I'll be asking when I'm down there on Thursday and Friday.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I know that some of the accommodation had their windows
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: smashed was at the weekend before last as well, and
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that was the old campus accommodation or
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: off campus, but that these are some of the things
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: that I'll be trying to find out and talk to
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: everyone down there now.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Cas As I say, the other part of that report
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was incredibly shocking extreme violence. A doctor had told Matt
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Cunningham of you know, in the time that he's been
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: working there, never seen the violence as bad as it is.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: What is the feedback from the nurses.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: The same it is, It is terrible. The you know,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: they're fifty percent down in their permanent staff numbers of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: nursing and mid refree. I'm not sure what it's like
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: for the rest of the doctors and the other allied
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: health workers. They're trying to get agency to fulfill all
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: of those fifty percent vacancies, but that's not happening completely
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent filling it. They've are having a bit
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: of angst between the agency getting you know, triple more
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: pay per day than the permanent staff for getting and
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: they're doing the equal amount of work side by side.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: So that's putting angst on those permanent staff. Some of
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: them have said, you know, why don't I just resign
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: working from the Department of Health and get an agency contract.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I'd be able to get triple the amount of money
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: for the same work I am performing on a daily basis.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: So that's putting everyone on edge. The numbers that are
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: coming through the hospitals over the December January, they haven't
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: quiet and bound. You know, they haven't had elective surgery,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and they're still having multiple multiple issues needing that's coming
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: through ed that are needing to go to theaters. So
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: theater has not slowed down at all. It's still needing
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: to suit your heads, arms, legs, etc. From all the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: assaults and violence that's been going on in the town.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: And you know, they've just really really had enough and
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: they want some action.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I think everybody does. Cat it is just reached beyond
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the point of ridiculousness. There needs to be some serious
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: action and it needs to be immediate.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was disappointed to hear that the community
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: meeting that happened last night didn't last very long and
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: it was shut down, so it would have been nice
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: to see what outcomes that the community had spoken together.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: But well, look, yeah, we're going to catch up with
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the hopefully we'll catch up with the organizer of that
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: meeting very soon, so we'll see what we can see
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: what we can find out, Kath. I really appreciate you
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: speaking to us this morning. I'm mortified to hear about
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: those two incidents you know, that you'd told just told
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: us about at the start of this interview. I you know,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: our nurses already worked under really difficult, you know, difficult circumstances.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: They're there to help people. They do a phenomenal job,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: you know. I yeah, I really they need to be
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: kept safe, as does as do all of our frontline workers.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And I know the hospital and the executive down in
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs Hospital it's doing their best to try and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: put more security on and they're now offering a bus
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: service to take staff home at the end of a shift,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: particularly you know, the late shift at nine ten o'clock
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and perhaps even the morning shift after night. Judy, yep,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: but I I wouldn't be leaving my car there if
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I'd driven to work and got the buck home. I'm
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: not sure about that. I'd leave my car there, it
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: would come back to the next shift and it would
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: be destroyed or taken them for a joy ride. So
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: that there's still plenty of issues to iron out.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: There, certainly is Kath Hatcher, the Secretary of the Nursing
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and with Free Federation here in the Northern Territory. Always
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you for speaking with me today.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: No, thank you very much.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you