Question on Notice 178/2025: Safety incidents

Topic

Safety incidents

Question

QUESTION Will the Minister advise the number of safety incidents reported by staff following altercations with a patient between 3 February and 10 March 2025 (reported separately by week and HHS)? ANSWER Hospitals are full of complex, vulnerable patients, and our hardworking frontline staff work tirelessly to balance a safe working environment and the delivery of exceptional care to our communities. Unfortunately, violence in the healthcare setting occurs. The below table provides the total number of incidents reported separately by week and Hospital and Health Service (HHS) between 3 February – 10 March 2025. I am advised that the number of reported incidents does not necessarily correspond with the number of assaults on healthcare workers, but it does give us an understanding of what is occurring in our hospitals. For example, Metro South HHS may appear to have significantly higher numbers than other health services, however I am advised that during this reporting period, Metro South healthcare security officers undertook a process to enter a backlog of incidents that had occurred in January 2025. Table 1: Queensland Health Occupational Violence incident reports from 3 February to 10 March 2025 (incidents reported by a worker where a patient / client was defined as the instigator) Cairns and Hinterland HHS Week 1, 53; Week 2, 34; Week 3, 40; Week 4, 41; Week 5, 48; Week 6, 4. Central Queensland HHS Week 1, 15; Week 2, 6; Week 3, 11; Week 4, 8; Week 5, 16; Week 6, 5. Central West HHS Week 1, 0; Week 2, 0; Week 3, 1; Week 4, 0; Week 5, 0; Week 6, 0. Children’s Health Queensland HHS Week 1, 3; Week 2, 4; Week 3, 1; Week 4, 9; Week 5, 1; Week 6, 0. Darling Downs HHS Week 1, 27; Week 2, 25; Week 3, 18; Week 4, 24; Week 5, 13; Week 6, 3. Gold Coast HHS Week 1, 18; Week 2, 26; Week 3, 28; Week 4, 32; Week 5, 18; Week 6, 3. Mackay HHS Week 1, 9; Week 2, 1; Week 3, 4; Week 4, 5; Week 5, 11; Week 6, 1. Metro North HHS Week 1, 53; Week 2, 62; Week 3, 52; Week 4, 46; Week 5, 47; Week 6, 5. Metro South HHS Week 1, 215; Week 2, 131; Week 3, 137; Week 4, 96; Week 5, 67; Week 6, 6. North West HHS Week 1, 2; Week 2, 2; Week 3, 3; Week 4, 3; Week 5, 4; Week 6, 0. South West HHS Week 1, 1; Week 2, 4; Week 3, 2; Week 4, 2; Week 5, 3; Week 6, 1. Sunshine Coast HHS Week 1, 20; Week 2, 28; Week 3, 17; Week 4, 24; Week 5, 17; Week 6, 2. Torres and Cape HHS Week 1, 2; Week 2, 1;f Week 3, 4; Week 4, 0; Week 5, 1; Week 6, 0. Townsville HHS Week 1, 23; Week 2, 26; Week 3, 26; Week 4, 28; Week 5, 29; Week 6, 3. West Moreton HHS Week 1, 18; Week 2, 27; Week 3, 11; Week 4, 9; Week 5, 22; Week 6, 0. Wide Bay HHS Week 1, 11; Week 2, 20; Week 3, 15; Week 4, 19; Week 5, 26; Week 6, 2. Data Notes and Caveats: - Incident status = posted/previously posted - Posted date = 03/02/2025 – 10/03/2025 - Subject affected = worker - Primary incident classification = occupational violence - Occupational violence instigator = patient / client - Some individual incidents of occupational violence reported may be linked to a single event (e.g. a physical restraint or seclusion episode) involving multiple individuals. - RiskMan data can change over time as incidents are updated in the system therefore caution must be used in comparing totals to those generated on prior extract dates. Data for this response was extracted from RiskMan on 24/03/2025

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