Patient Tried To Strangle Middlemore Nurse In Unprovoked Attack: Report

The patient who attempted to strangle a nurse at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital on Monday was reportedly dropped off by police at ED, and unprovoked before the attack.

More details of the Monday assault have come to light in an article published by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation publication, Kaitiaki.

A 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted strangulation.

The incident comes just nine days after another nurse was hospitalised with stab wounds following a callout to a property in Rotorua.

Kaitiaki reported that the Middlemore nurse was one of three nurses on duty in the ED's short-stay unit on Monday afternoon, and was about to change the patients' dressing when the man attacked him.

Another colleague told Katiaki that the patient had been dropped off at the ED by police.

A New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate and nurse colleague told Kaitiaki that the patient was not flagged as dangerous or a mental health patient and acted without any provocation.

RNZ has approached police asking for comment surrounding the details of the patient handover.

Kaitiaki reported that the nurse is now recovering in hospital with lacerations and was "highly traumatised and upset," according to another nurse colleague.

It reported that a staff member said it took five colleagues, including a nurse who is a skilled rugby player - to get the man off before hospital security and police arrived.

A nurse colleague told Kaitiaki that while there is usually a security presence in the ED, the guards were not present at the time.

"I don't know why security didn't turn up ... sometimes it will take a while because they are covering all the hospital," they told the publication.

They said staff were traumatised and afraid, and had requested strengthened security that included guards stationed at the ED at all times.

The staff told Kaitiaki that those affected have been given a week off work, but that so far, no one has been offered mental health support including the victim.

Health New Zealand (HNZ) Counties Manukau acting group director of operations Dana Ralph-Smith said Middlemore Hospital is one of eight high-priority EDs which received increased security budget over the summer period.

Ralph-Smith said they continue to work closely with staff and hospital security.

When asked about whether Middlemore Hospital has an adequate budget for security, Ralph-Smith referred RNZ to the minister's commitment of $31 million to eight high-priority EDs, including Middlemore Hospital over four years to improve security.

When asked about the current status of the assaulted nurse, Ralph-Smith said they couldn't comment further to protect the privacy of the staff member.

RNZ has approached HNZ for further comment on the reports from staff members on the lack of security staff at ED when the incident happened and also comments from staff that they haven't been offered counselling following the incident.

The health minister Shane Reti has also been approached for comment.

NZNO's Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku was not available for an interview but said in a statement that nurses are working in increasingly challenging environments.

"Nurses are increasingly facing volatile situations as hardship grows. Whānau are struggling with the stress of the rising cost of living and this leads to increasing levels of frustration which play out during home visits or long wait times at Emergency Departments," she said.

This is the second security incident at Middlemore Hospital over the past week, following a firearm being discharged in the hospital's carpark on Saturday.