Sydney hospitals allegedly sabotaged by woman on bail

There are calls for increased hospital security this morning after 2 Sydney hospitals were allegedly sabotaged by a 42-year-old woman who was on bail.

For more, the boss of the Health Services Union Gerard Hayes joins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
There are calls for increased hospital security this morning after
two Sydney hospitals were allegedly sabotaged by a forty two
year old woman who was on bail. Police are accusing
her of cutting water and gas to a hospital in
Southeast Sydney, as well as switching off patient oxygen supplies
to another. Let's bring in Jared Hayes, the boss of

(00:23):
the Health Service Union. Good morning to you. What was
your reaction to all of this?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Sadly, Matt, this is something that can be expected. We've
been talking about security in hospitals for over a decade.
The Skinner Prime, the Skinner Health Minister, as well as
Hazard the Health Minister, both had reviews. The Anderser reports
widely circulated and here we are some eight years later,
still derby with uise matters.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Just looking at some overlay vision of these gas cylinders.
They seem to be out in the open behind what
is just like a wire fence. Right. Should this be
more secure? Should they be internally in the hospital. I
don't know the safety issues with that look.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think they need to be outside that you need
to have an adequate security approach within the hospital. At
the moment, security offices within health which is a specialized approach,
are lucky to be able to look after people within
the health precinct, let alone outside. And as you can imagine,
many health workers, nurses and others walk to their cars
at night and we would hopefully have security escort in them.

(01:28):
But at the moment that shows how far security in
hospitals is stretched.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
An investigation by seven News last night did reveal that
their were concerns that there weren't enough staff, particularly on
the perimeter of hospitals, being able to do patrols but
also to monitoring CCTV.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Is that a concern, Absolutely, it is, And a health
precinct now is basically be a microcosm of the community,
and we know what's going on in the community how
more volatile it is, so really having the appropriate response
internally is going to be vitally important. Minister Ryan Park
has done a very good job in terms of starting

(02:06):
that security approach, but we've got to finish it to
make sure that workers, visitors, patients within the health setting
as well as well as the asset are protected.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Hopefully this is the wake up call that the government needs.
Jared Hayes, appreciate your time.