TAMWORTH hospital workers and paramedics took a stand this week calling for the government to address safety concerns in their workplaces.
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The Health Services Union (HSU) executed one of the biggest industrial actions in recent memory taking more than 22,000 of its members off the job in NSW in response to many staff members being assaulted in public hospitals.
The union called on the state government to employ 250 more security staff with "special constable powers" to roam the hospitals and prevent their staff and patients being treated like "punching bags".
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The HSU Tamworth sub-branch president Jeff Knee, who's a security guard at the rural referral hospital, said violence was an issue on a "shift-by-shift basis" and under-staffing has compounded the problem.
"We've been banging-on about this for 20 years," he said.
"Our hospitals are not safe for either the staff or patients and it needs to be fixed."
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association didn't join the statewide strike and opted to remain in the wards caring for patients.
But the union's acting general secretary Judith Kiejda said violence in the health sector needed to be addressed by the government and posed a couple of remedies.
"Increasing hospital security is only one element," Ms Kiejda said.
"We believe under-staffing is a major contributing factor and it requires urgent attention.
"Improved staff to patient ratios would definitely help to alleviate some of the pressures, yet we're in a constant battle over the bare minimum of staffing."
It is understood the HSU and NSW Health have been in ongoing talks about the provision of more security.
The Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, has so far offered a trial of extra security officers at Wyong and Gosford hospitals.
At a recent inquiry into ice use in regional NSW, the hospital's emergency director Nick Ryan said the drug has intensified conditions and explained some patients needed to be "physically and chemically restrained".