The Nepean Hospital lockdown on Wednesday is the latest incident in a series of security scares at NSW hospitals following the release of a damning report of violence against hospital workers. The incident at Nepean on Wednesday morning forced patients, visitors and staff in the emergency department to move from the area for almost three hours, a spokesperson for the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District said. Paramedics avoided the major trauma centre, transporting patients to hospitals further afield before Nepean was reopened in the early afternoon. NSW police said the hospital was closed “as a precaution”. In October last year, a man was shot and tasered by police after he brandished two knives outside Nepean Hospital. Wednesday’s lockdown comes less than a month after a violent incident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where a 29-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly stabbing a 45-year-old man in the back in the triage area of the inner-Sydney hospital’s emergency department. At Lismore Hospital in November, a woman allegedly stabbed a man with a syringe and in August at Blacktown Hospital a male patient allegedly stabbed a nurse repeatedly with two knives. The series of violent events prompted the NSW government to launch a review into the safety of staff, patients and visitors at the state’s public hospitals. The Health Services Union (HSU) NSW has repeatedly called for an extra 250 security guards at NSW hospitals, working in pairs, who would have the power to detain and retain.
