Thirteen more security cameras will be installed at Williamstown Hospital to improve the safety of patients, visitors, volunteers and staff.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said the hospital had received nearly $60,000 in state government funding for the CCTV cameras.
It is among 46 hospitals and mental health facilities to share $8million funding for safety upgrades, including GPS tracking systems for lone workers, CCTV upgrades, swipe-card access for doors, carpark safety zones, duress systems and personal duress alarms.
“This investment in Williamstown Hospital will expand their CCTV coverage and improve the safety outcomes for patients and staff,” Mr Noonan said. “The sad reality for our health care workers is that occupational violence, both verbal and physical, happens almost every day.”
Western Health spokeswoman Catherine Somerville said Williamstown had fewer incidents than Footscray or Sunshine hospitals, and were usually of a different nature.
“The types of incidents that occur at Williamstown tend to be more related to patient illness and factors such as delirium, rather than deliberate aggression,” she said.
Latest crime statistics showed there were 32 assaults on emergency services workers in Hobsons Bay for the year to March, compared with 48 the previous year. The number of assaults on emergency services workers in Maribyrnong rose from 38 to 43 for the same period.
