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Nurse seriously injured in violent hospital melee

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Source : Perth Now news

A nurse has been seriously injured and several others allegedly attacked by a hospital patient before he was tasered during a violent incident.

Police restrained a 51-year-old patient after the Saturday night melee at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital, which left a nurse in hospital.

Officers already at the hospital for unrelated matters were told the man seriously injured a nurse’s leg before assaulting two other nurses and a security guard.

During the same incident, the man allegedly assaulted a 26-year-old woman, who was trying to protect a nearby patient, with a garbage bin.

When approached by police, he allegedly assaulted an officer before being tasered and arrested.

He was then moved to a secure facility within the hospital.

The injured nurse was admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

The officer, hospital staff and a member of the public were treated at the scene, but did not require further medical care.

Police did not specify where in the hospital the incident took place.

A number of NSW hospitals have set up dedicated mental health units within their emergency departments to curb violence against staff.

A recent report from the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association revealed 88 per cent of respondents had experienced violence in the previous year.