The article’s authors, Wendy Strawbridge, Ruth Money, and Lillian Ng, paint a picture of doctors and especially nurses already stretched and vulnerable when the assaults occur — and often not getting the subsequent support required.
‘‘Violence may pose an implicit or explicit challenge to a person’s safety, wellbeing or health.
‘‘In the healthcare sector, violence can have significant physical, psychological and emotional consequences, and delayed and longer-term impacts on functioning.’’
The emergency services were most heavily affected, but staff across all departments still bore the brunt of the costs, the report said.
‘‘Victims often need medical care, emotional support and financial help for serious injuries. From an organisational perspective, there are extra considerations in protecting healthcare staff from workplace violence and its impacts.’’
Part of the problem, the authors argue, is the entangled justice system.
‘‘The interfaces of ‘justice’ and ‘health’ do not intersect well, and victims often discover a clunky process that consumes time and energy and generates a significant amount of paperwork.
‘‘The needs and rights of victims are fundamental: to be informed about access to services that address their needs, to utilise these services, to get help to understand reactions to their experience of a crime committed against them and the need for safety, which can only be held by well-constructed processes.’’
The authors said often the onus was on the healthcare worker to follow up.
‘‘Any violent incident is a salient reminder of the paramount importance of self-care. Recovery from workplace violence may involve a long period of rehabilitation.’’
The authors call for a host of remedies to the situation, including:
• A nationwide, unified approach to collecting, analysing and reporting data on workplace violence across the health sector.
• Commissioning research on the consequences of workplace violence, particularly psychosocial impacts.
• Strengthening health and safety legislation by clarifying responsibilities of individuals and organisations in identifying and managing risks and monitoring violence.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels said the research was significant for looking at how the violence affected individual victims.
‘‘I think that brings a new element to it because instead of it being numbers, it’s about the feelings, the hurt, the decimation of people’s personal lives.
‘‘Many people have to rebuild their work career and find different ways of learning to work and feel safe at work.’’
Ms Daniels said the article unintentionally missed one aspect of violence at work.
‘‘What it doesn’t look at is why it happened.’’
Research into the cause of violence in health in places such as the emergency departments needed to happen, Ms Daniels said.
‘‘We need to do comprehensive research that actually looks at why this is happening and what we need to do as a society to stop it.’’
Health New Zealand People & Culture and Health & Safety executive director Robyn Shearer had read the article, which was published yesterday.
‘‘Staff wellbeing and safety is a critical part of delivering quality healthcare to New Zealanders.
‘‘No level of violence is acceptable, and our staff have the right to feel safe at work.’’
Ms Shearer said reported incidents had increased but injuries and time lost due to injuries had remained stable.
‘‘This suggests earlier intervention, better de-escalation, and improved response are reducing the severity of harm.
‘‘Our security teams and staff are trained in de-escalation techniques, and 24/7 security support is available at all of our hospitals.’’
She said security in hospitals had been strengthened in the past two years with the $31 million boost to security for Health NZ’s emergency departments.
‘‘This has enabled a step change in security provision across all our hospital campuses.’’
Over 51,700 hours of training and education had been delivered to 4160 doctors, nurses, security and other front-facing ED staff since training started in January 2025, she said.
