Health authorities are hoping a program which gives patients more information about their treatment and the people who’ll be providing it could reduce incidences of violence on ACT hospital wards.<\/p>\n
First trialled in Canberra in 2021, Safewards is an internationally recognised model-of-care which includes strategies to reduce the likelihood of conflict and make hospital wards a more positive environment.<\/p>\n
It has since been rolled out in 10 wards across Canberra’s public hospitals.<\/p>\n
Practically, there’s things like photo boards with staff’s faces, names and personal interests near ward entrances, staff are trained in using ‘kinder’ language when speaking to and around patients and visitors, and senior team members visit each patient daily to hear concerns directly.<\/p>\n
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Clinical Nurse Consultant at North Canberra Hospital Leah Marshall (centre) says Safewards is helping patients feel heard while in hospitals. (ABC News: Harry Frost)<\/p>\n
Clinical Nurse Consultant at North Canberra Hospital Leah Marshall said the morning conversation with patients and family members had significantly reduced complaints.<\/p>\n
“It’s a great opportunity to address those issues at the point of care, so they don’t become bigger issues,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We get great feedback from patients and their family members about feeling more supported, knowing that the senior nursing team is looking out for them.<\/p>\n
‘It could result in death’: Nurses assaulted during in-home visits<\/a><\/p>\n Union representatives say it took four nurses getting assaulted and a prohibition order before Canberra Health Services listened to their calls for safety. Now they say safety is worse than before.<\/p>\n “They feel like they’re heard.”<\/p>\n According to the ACT government, the pilot found more than half of Safewards nurses thought the model of care had an impact on conflict and containment in their workplace, two out of three thought their colleagues viewed the program favourably and nearly half had heard positive patient feedback.<\/p>\n Canberra Health Services (CHS) intends to roll out the program in two more wards, while practices learned by staff from Safewards will filter through other areas of the hospital system.<\/p>\n Increasing incidence of violence<\/p>\n Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said it was part of a broader strategy aimed at improving the system’s safety culture.<\/p>\n Rachel Stephen-Smith says the ACT government is working to make hospitals safer for staff. (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)<\/p>\n “That has partly been around ensuring that staff feel safe and supported to report incidents of occupational violence and know that there will be a response to that,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.<\/p>\n “Overall the feedback from staff and from patients and families and carers is that they’re feeling a more positive environment.<\/p>\n “They’re seeing a reduction in occupational violence but also a reduction in the use of restrictive practices like medication to keep patients calm.”<\/p>\n The system encourages staff to report incidents of violence, which may be partly responsible for an increase in cases.<\/p>\n CHS figures show there were 168 reported incidents of violence in the Canberra Hospital emergency department in the 2024-25 financial year \u2014 up from 95 the year before and 50 in 2022-23.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n