Moves To Curb Unruly Behaviour At Hospital

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31976, 1 May 1969, Page 8

Moves To Curb Unruly Behaviour At Hospital

“Bouncers” are likely to be assigned to duty in the Christchurch Hospital emergency and accident department on Saturday nights to protect nurses from aggressive and abusive drunks who have threatened them with physical violence.

Dr L. M. Berry, the North Canterbury Hospital Board’s medical superintendent in chief, told the board yesterday that such behaviour was by no means uncommon on Saturday nights.

The duty sister had told him that she had often had to defend herself from “drunken, aggressive and

abusive people.” There had been a certain number of threats of physical violence to the staff. Dr Berry said he investigated the situation after a disturbance in the emergency and accident department on the night of Saturday, April 12. Five persons injured when a party at Belfast was “gate-crashed” were brought in for treatment—together with a number of “hangers on.”

The behaviour and language of the patients concerned were better than average for a Saturday night, but the intoxicated “hangers bn” caused a considerable nuisance in the foyer and held wheelchair races up and down the main corridor. The head orderly called the police and those concerned were removed. The administration was now discussing the possibility of assigning extra male staff to the department for four hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Dr L. C. L. Averill, chairman of the board, said that at 11 p.m. the porter had to leave his desk and take over the job of answering telephones. He was shut off and could not keep watch on the foyer. “We must ask the public to respect the emergency and

accident staff, who are there to treat the sick and to give them the utmost consideration,” said Dr Averill. “Hang-ers-on are not wanted in the emergency and accident department.” Mr J. B. Hay said the persons involved were “nohopers” who had driven themselves to the hospital to cause trouble. He suggested that the breath-test might change things. “And we have facilities for drawing blood here, haven’t we?” he added.