RE Official Information Act request WCDHB 9284
I refer to your email dated 20 February 2019 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB regarding staff being assaulted, harassed and injured by patients between 2016 and 2019 year to date (20 February 2019). Specifically:
1. Data/numbers/figures of all incidents involving any DHB staffer being harassed, assaulted, hurt, injured, threatened, maimed or implicated in an altercation with any patient from any ward/area under the DHB’s jurisdiction over the last three years to date (ie from February 20, 2016, to present day, February 20, 2019).
2. Could the DHB please, with the data, provide a breakdown of when each incident occurred (ie date), when it was recorded/reported and by who, a brief description of each incident including details of the assault/threat/injury/harassment, and what the outcome was of each incident ie. Whether a patient was sectioned/transferred/arrested or whether the staffer involved had
From 20 February 2016 to 20 February 2019, there were 34 incidents recorded with the mechanism of harm ‘physical assault’. For the event type, ‘verbal abuse’, 33 incidents were recorded over the same period. Note that multiple categories may be selected for one incident. These figures are based on the initial assessment of event type by the person recording the event in our centralised electronic recording system.
We encourage our people to record all incidents involving violence and aggression. Of the 34 Physical assaults that were recorded five received medical treatment and were accepted as ACC work injury claims with a mechanism of harm ‘being hit, struck or bitten by person’.
We are declining to provide this level of detail under sections 18(f) and 9(2) (a) of the Official Information Act. The West Coast DHB has not run a report for Behaviour and Safety as this requires extensive analysis that we do not have the resources to undertake and it would take a substantial amount of time. We believe to provide details on who submitted the event, or the brief factual description would provide too much detail and could identify the person and the incident.
We are declining to provide the patient outcome of each incident under section 18(g) of the Official Information Act as the West Coast DHB holds no data collection relating to this information.
I trust that this satisfies your interest in this matter.