20 February 2024
JS
[FYI request #25337 email]
Tēnā koe JS
Your request for Official information, reference: HNZ00035423
Thank you for your email on 4 January 2024, asking for the following under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act):
I request a summary of violent incidents at the Middlemore Hospital emergency department
for 2023/24 as reported in the hospital risk management platform.
Can you please provide the monthly total number of reported incidents for each month from
January 2022 until December 2023.
Response
A full summary of violent incidents in the Middlemore Hospital Emergency Department reported in
the incident reporting system between January 2023 to February 2024 can be found in appendix 1.
The redactions in this report are warranted under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the privacy
of individuals, those being patients and staff.
Hospitals can be challenging environments, where patients are sometimes cognitively impaired,
impacted by some form of substance or alcohol abuse, or coping with the initial impact of an acute
injury. This can often affect their judgment and demeanour, resulting in unpredictable behaviour.
We cannot prevent all of these issues from occurring but have robust processes in place to
manage them – minimising the risk of harm to staff and preventing further escalation. For this
reason, we have focussed our control measures on reducing the consequences by, for example,
providing staff with personal alarms and appropriate training. Our security teams are in close
proximity to our EDs and trained to help de-escalate incidents of aggression, if required.
Each month, around 94% to 98% of aggression incidents are deemed to be without intent, i.e. the
aggressor is unaware of their actions, or the consequence of those actions, at the time of the
incident. It is also important to recognise that, of al of the thousands of patients that we assess
and treat each month, very few result in any violent interaction.
In addition, there has been a change in the way the hospital reports restraint incidents to align with
the new Ngā Paerewa Health and Disability Services Standards (NZS 8134:2021) which came into
effect in 2022. This change is evident from July 2022 onwards.
The table below provides a summary of the incident type and number of incidents reported monthly
from January 2022 to December 2023 as requested.
Provisional, this data has not undergone the validation process that we use for published data. We
recommend that caveats are consistently used, underscoring that the data is provisional; not
validated through a formal validation process; and could be subject to change.
Please note: A breakdown by figures for such a small group of incidents could identify individuals.
To avoid revealing sensitive information about potentially identifiable individuals in our data, all
values between 1 and 5 are suppressed and represented as <5.
Specific Incident Type
Jan,
Feb,
Mar,
Apr,
May,
Jun,
Jul,
Aug,
Sep,
Oct,
Nov,
Dec,
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
assault - physical
0
0
<5
0
0
<5
0
<5
0
0
0
0
assault - verbal/gesture
0
0
0
<5
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
awol
0
0
0
0
<5
<5
<5
<5
0
<5
<5
<5
behaviour -
aggressive/threatening
<5
<5
<5
0
0
<5
0
<5
6
0
0
<5
behaviour -
inappropriate
<5
0
0
<5
0
<5
<5
<5
<5
<5
<5
0
Environmental Restraint
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
Personal Restraint
0
0
0
0
0
0
14
27
22
27
25
20
Physical Restraint
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
Seclusion WITH restraint
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
self harm - actual
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
<5
0
0
self harm - threatened
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
suicide attempt
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
unauthorised
access/trespass
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
unauthorised activity
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
unauthorised use of
alcohol/drugs
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
5
<5
<5
<5
<5
7
19
36
32
33
28
22
Specific Incident Type
Jan,
Feb,
Mar,
Apr,
May,
Jun,
Jul,
Aug, Sep, Oct,
Nov,
Dec,
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023 2023 2023 2023
2023
assault - physical
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
<5
0
<5
0
<5
assault -
verbal/gesture
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
awol
0
<5
<5
0
0
0
<5
<5
0
<5
8
0
behaviour -
aggressive/threatening
<5
<5
<5
0
<5
0
<5
0
<5
<5
5
5
behaviour -
harassment
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
behaviour -
inappropriate
<5
<5
0
0
<5
<5
0
<5
0
<5
<5
<5
Combination of
Physical and Personal
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
Restraint
Personal Restraint
14
19
15
16
7
14
15
10
8
9
14
12
Physical Restraint
0
0
0
<5
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
self harm - actual
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
0
<5
0
self harm - threatened
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
unauthorised activity
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
<5
0
<5
unauthorised use of
alcohol/drugs
0
0
<5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16
27
19
17
11
17
20
16
9
26
32
20
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[Health New Zealand request email].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name
and contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Dr Vanessa Thornton
Group Director of Operations
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand