An analysis of more than 60 annual reports tabled in state parliament last week found at least 73 violent incidents are reported every day in the state's public health services, up from 65 the previous year. The incidents include healthcare workers being bitten, punched and having their bones broken.
Labor has pledged $30 million for better lighting across hospital grounds, more CCTV and court-imposed orders to ban violent patients from Victorian hospitals for up to a year, and this week announced $102 million to improve mental health nurse-to-patient ratios. The Liberals have proposed rolling out 70 armed protective services officers across seven major Melbourne hospitals.
Health and Community Services Union state secretary Paul Healey said he had been flooded with reports of violence from members, including a case last week in which a female mental health nurse was physically attacked by a patient during a night shift at a Melbourne hospital. "This has become an extremely common occurrence," he said. "Violence at work is the norm now rather than the exception."
Healey blamed the soaring violence on health funding cuts, which he said had resulted in severe staffing shortages. He said this had coincided with new statewide rules to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint on mental health patients.
A psychiatric nurse at a busy Melbourne hospital who did not want to be identified said a patient had twisted her arm and broken her glasses last month. Earlier this year, her colleague at the same hospital was punched unconscious by a patient. "She fell to the floor, and then he got on top of her, punching her like 20 to 30 times," the nurse said. "It was horrific." The colleague was left with a broken cheekbone and shattered collarbone and was too traumatised to return to work. The nurse said she had observed a rise in patients bringing weapons such as knives and bike chains, and believed drug use, including methamphetamine, was fuelling the violence.
College of Emergency Nursing Australasia national president Associate Professor Kelli Innes said nurses were being chased, cornered, physically attacked and increasingly subjected to verbal abuse, including threats of "we know where you live" and "we will come after your family". A college survey of hundreds of emergency nurses found more than 58 per cent were seriously considering leaving the profession, with about 60 per cent citing occupational violence among the biggest challenges facing nurses.
Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Victoria branch chair Associate Professor Mark Putland said healthcare workers were routinely being bitten, punched, pushed, kicked, spat on and verbally abused, with verbal abuse often sexualised or racist. “The workforce has had enough,” he said. The two colleges are calling for specially trained security guards stationed in every emergency department around the clock, along with a taskforce with a direct reporting line to the health minister.
Northern Health recorded the most incidents, with 4,626 violent attacks over the last financial year, or 74 per 100 full-time employees. It attributed this rise to improved reporting practices and a stronger reporting culture. The most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data showed at least 230 Victorian healthcare workers were hospitalised after being assaulted at work in 2024-25.
Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said every healthcare worker has the right to feel safe at work. "We're taking action to make our hospitals safer with better lighting, more CCTV and tougher consequences for violent behaviour," she said. "More nurses on every shift means more time for every patient and that's why we're extending nurse-to-patient ratios to mental health wards." She said the Liberals wanted to cut $40 billion and sack 31,700 frontline workers, adding "you can't make those cuts without hurting our hospitals".
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier blamed the government's financial mismanagement for putting hospitals under enormous pressure. "At the same time, violence has spilled from our streets into our hospitals, and the people who care for us are increasingly being put at risk. It is simply unacceptable."
An analysis by the Victorian Liberal Party found two-thirds of the state's health services were operating in the red, with 48 out of 72 recording a combined deficit of more than $486 million, an improvement from two years ago when combined deficits exceeded $900 million. Australian Medical Association Victorian president Simon Judkins said there was a "huge gap" between the funding provided and what was needed to run the services. "There are things that we know will make us more effective and efficient … but we don't have the money to invest in them," he said. Mildura Base Public Hospital, still reliant on paper records, failed to triage 150 critical referrals left sitting in cardboard boxes for up to 16 months; a cancer patient died and another person was left terminally ill.