Mar 17 2008
The Queensland Nurses Union has condemned health authorities for failing to act over concerns that their work places and residences in the Torres Straits are unsafe.
The Union is threatening to withdraw medical staff if security issues are not addressed by March 28th.
Their plight has been highlighted by the alleged rape of a nurse on Mabuiag Island, in the Torres Strait who is about to sue the Queensland government over the issue.
The incident occurred despite repeated warnings that the man was mentally unstable.
The 22-year-old man has been charged with rape and burglary over the February 5th incident.
On Badu Island the island's health centre has recently had new doors fitted and while there appears to be an influx of Health Department bureaucrats and nurse's union representatives, island health workers remain skeptical.
The centre was opened in 2004 and cost $3.5 million, and community leaders say the situation has been exaggerated by the media.
They say they had warned Queensland Health about the alleged rapist and had asked for him to be removed from the island.
The Queensland Nurses Union says the rape case is not unique as there were at least four other assaults on nurses in the region last year.
The Union is demanding that concrete action be taken to upgrade or repair security arrangements for nurses and is saying they will no longer tolerate delays blamed on 'red tape'.
Union secretary Gay Hawksworth says nurses across the state are concerned for their safety and on a regular basis claims are being made by nurses for compensation for violence inflicted on them dealing with patients across Queensland.
Most of the incidents have come after an audit carried out in 2006 produced a list of concerns most of which have not been addressed.
The Queensland Nurses Union is calling for the immediate deployment of work crews to these areas to fix sub-standard facilities, including broken locks, poor lighting and faulty panic alarms.
The Union also wants in future for at least two nurses to be employed on each island site at all times which the union says is sound practice in terms of occupational health and safety and clinical care.
Ms Hawksworth says nurses across the state feared for their safety and these problems are not new and not confined to the Torres Strait and are acute and need to be resolved immediately.
According to Health Minister Stephen Robertson security issues are being addressed but he has branded retired Torres Strait district manager Phillip Mills as inept, disgraceful, incompetent and in dereliction of his duty for sitting on the document.
The condemnation however followed revelations that the Health department initially denied the report detailing the problems existed.
Mr Mills reportedly had been transferred to Cairns at the time the report on the Torres Strait was delivered.
The issue has now become a 'hot potato' with Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg calling for "immediate" action to fix "extreme" risks to staff at the facilities.
Ms Hawksworth says staff in emergency departments and mental-health units face violent and angry patients, often dated facilities but acknowledges that Queensland Health was trying to address the problems.
Teachers on the island have apparently been banned from talking to the media about their working conditions and safety concerns.
The Australian Medical Association Queensland president Ross Cartmill has called for more safety for medical professionals in remote areas.