A nurse has been allegedly been slashed by a patient with a knife in an attack at Blacktown Hospital overnight.

The attack has prompted a fresh call for specialist security forces in our hospitals.

The 35-year-old nurse was looking after a 47-year-old male patient late yesterday evening when he started to become agitated.

He began to act erratic, wandering into other patient’s rooms and taking photos with his mobile phone.

At one point, he entered the staff room and grabbed two knives. The nurse attempted to help him back to his room, unaware he was armed.

The patient then allegedly slashed the nurse with the knives cutting her wrist and slashing her clothing.

She managed to escape, with an elderly male patient coming to her aid and locking the attacker in the staff room until police arrived to disarm and arrest the man.

The alleged attacker has since been transferred to Westmead Hospital and charged with wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and is expected to appear at Blacktown Local Court tomorrow.

Assistant General Secretary of NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Judith Kiejda is concerned these types of incidents are growing.

“The really worrying trend about this… is that now it is happening on the wards.

“The bottom line is, these are foreseeable risks.

“In 2018 when we know that violence at work is a massive issue, particularly for health facilities… management have to actually look beyond the obvious and make sure that their workplaces are safe and secure”.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Listener Shannon called in to give Ben more detail about the nurse attack, saying his father-in-law was in the ward next to the man who allegedly stabbed the nurse.

“He was coming in and out of the ward… looking for his phone… asking for cookies.

“He just sounded very, very, very confused.

“I said to my fiancé, ‘Shut that door because I think that guy has a bit of dementia'”, he tells Ben.

Shannon said his fiancé called him a little later, saying the man had stabbed a nurse and had cut himself as well.

“He was sitting in a pool of blood,” he tells Ben.

Click PLAY below to hear  the full call

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