Scared nurses at Ipswich Hospital forced to walk more than 10 minutes to their cars late at night are calling for better security and dedicated staff parking.
It follows an incident around Midnight last Thursday night, where a nurse was stalked by two male youths and had eggs thrown at her while walking to her vehicle.
It also follows a number of other incidents, which the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland , say have been officially reported to the hospital.
Meanwhile, NPAQ President Kara Thomas has described the situation as ‘unacceptable’.
“Some nurses will no longer work at Ipswich Hospital because nothing has happened to improve safety after hours because sometimes they have to park quite far away in side streets.
“These streets and alleyways including ‘Meredith Lane’ are dark and poorly lit putting hospital staff at risk,” she said.
Nurses Professional Association of Queensland President Kara Thomas said that currently security at the hospital is dedicated to issues inside the hospital and not outside of it.
“Nurses can ask to be escorted by security but it is generally a really long wait,” she said.
“The nurses walk in pairs and they do this as often as humanly possible,” Ms Thomas said.
The NPAQ President said that nightshift nurses, who are part of safety committees had been calling for dedicated staff security during shift changes and very little had changed despite feedback that had been given.
“It’s really quite upsetting for these nurses,” Ms Thomas said.
“The state government and the hospital executives do appear to have human rights obligations and safety obligations to take safety measures to protect a persons security and protect these nurses when they walk to and from work,” she said.
West Moreton Hospital and Health Service have been contacted for comment.
