Because of aggressive parents
Basel Children’s Hospital now has its own security service
The emergency department at the Basel Children’s Hospital has been overloaded for weeks. As if that weren’t enough, attacks on staff are also increasing. Because of aggressive parents, a separate security service has now been hired.
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The employees at the Basel Children’s Hospital live dangerously.
The attacks had increased massively. And insults and threats are the order of the day. “The situation is particularly bad late at night,” says Martin Bruni, spokesman for the Basel Children’s Hospital, to SRF. The parents’ nerves would often be on edge with long waiting times. Then situations would escalate. Not just verbally. There had also been fisticuffs.
Bruni says employees have not felt safe in recent months. “That’s why it has now been decided to work with security in the evenings and on weekends.” The hospital spokesman emphasizes that the security staff will be deployed at the express request of the employees.
“Violence almost every day”
The situation is precarious: the emergency department at the Basel Children’s Hospital has been chronically overloaded for weeks. Admission stops are imposed again and again, and operations have had to be postponed.
The same scenario at the children’s hospital in Zurich and at the Inselspital in Bern. There is now a security service there too. “Verbal violence and unpleasant situations for the staff occur almost every day,” says Daniel Saameli, media spokesman for Insel Gruppe, to SRF.
“We ask the parents: be lenient”
In general, Swiss hospitals are arming themselves and arming themselves against attacks. They rely on more security personnel, surveillance cameras – or special room design. Blick had already reported on this in the summer.
In recent years, more and more hospitals have taken countermeasures. At the University Hospital Zurich (USZ), for example, a pilot project is running: from 2 a.m., a security guard is always on duty in an emergency. The Professional Association of Swiss Doctors FMH also confirms that more and more hospitals across Switzerland are deploying security personnel in the evenings and at weekends.
The Bern University of Applied Sciences is researching an interior design that should have a positive effect on the well-being of patients. Among other things, color concepts, reference to nature, light, room layout or soil conditions play a role. For example, a gray emergency room can be painted in color, decorated with a picture of nature. (twa)