Stab-proof vests and body cameras will be worn by hospital workers as part of a $7 million program to keep staff safe. The rollout, announced by Health Minister Jill Hennessy, of new safety equipment will involve 11 metropolitan health services, and 11 in rural Victoria. Melbourne’s St Vincent’s hospital would receive the 22 stab-proof vests and more body cameras would be provided at Dandenong Hospital and Monash Medical Centre at Clayton. The move to protect frontline hospital staff comes amid a court case of a man accused of fatally punching a surgeon outside a Melbourne hospital after the alleged aggressor was asked to stop smoking. About $430,000 will be spend on duress alarm systems and CCTV cameras at Barwon Health sites.
