00:02October, at Prince of Wales Hospital, Radovan Banich sustains burns after allegedly being
00:08set alight by a fellow patient.
00:10It's one of the most appalling incidents I've ever seen.
00:13Now less than a month later, staff have been on the receiving end of a mental health patient's
00:18violent outburst at Concord Hospital.
00:20One of our doctors and a nurse was injured, I understand one of them has a broken wrist.
00:26According to the government, the number of security incidents in New South Wales hospitals
00:30fell in the past year, but the minister thinks some matters are going unreported, so he's
00:36decided to hire 129 new security guards.
00:40This will see many, many hospitals now, 24-7, with security staff.
00:45Bruce Rowling's a security officer at Royal North Shore and has been injured in the line
00:50of duty.
00:51I started swinging and punching the doctor. I restrained the guy to the bed. Luckily
00:57the doctors were very quick and did sedate him fairly quick, but in that process of me
01:01holding him, my thumb was pulled out of its socket.
01:04He says while Royal North Shore could use reinforcements, regional hospitals are in particular need.
01:10You've got maybe one security officer who's usually not only in a full-time security, usually
01:14they're the cleaner and the security officer.
01:16So, what's fueling this behaviour? The government thinks methamphetamine is a factor, making patients
01:21who use the drug more erratic. But the opposition says violent incidents are a symptom of a system
01:27under strain.
01:28When people are sleeping on the floors for up to 48 hours, when they can't get seen, when
01:33psychiatrists have walked out of our state's hospital, of course there's tension.
01:37And that can bring chaos to what should be a place of care.
