Health Minister Roger Cook says he will have an urgent meeting with hospital bosses and staff representatives after a violent attack on a nurse at Royal Perth Hospital. The 55-year-old woman was stabbed in the neck with a makeshift weapon, causing a deep wound, on Sunday. Mr Cook said there had been an escalation in attacks on frontline hospital staff and the McGowan Government was committed to stopping it. “We will work with our frontline representatives to make sure we put measures in places to protect them,” he said today. “We will design better security measures. There will be an immediate move to provide more security staff and we will examine the powers that they have. “We will examine the data to make sure that’s consistent across all our hospitals.” Mr Cook said he would also ask the health director general David Russell-Weisz to discuss improvements to how patients who are or were in police custody are handled in hospitals. Police allege Justin Trent Narrier, 30, stabbed the nurse at about 1.30am after approaching her from behind. Narrier was left unguarded at RPH despite having been arrested earlier in the day over a separate serious assault. Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olsen said nurses did not want another “talkfest” but wanted immediate action.
