Official Information Request WCDHB 9384
We refer to your email dated 16 January 2020 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB. Specifically:
• How many assaults there were on staff in the past year, and how it compares to the year before?
a. How many were physical?
b. How many were verbal?
c. Did anyone require medical treatment?
The wellbeing and safety of our patients and people is extremely important to us and staff work extremely hard to maintain a safe environment across our services. We encourage our people to record all incidents involving violence and aggression.
From 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018, there were 22 incidents recorded with the mechanism of harm ‘physical assault’, 5 of these required medical treatments. For the event type, ‘verbal abuse’, 18 incidents were recorded over the same period.
From 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019, there were 40 incidents recorded with the mechanism of harm ‘physical assault’, 1 of these required medical treatment. For the event type, ‘verbal abuse’, 15 incidents were recorded over the same period.
These figures are based on the initial assessment of event type by the person recording the event in our centralised electronic recording system.