\u201cWindows were already boarded up when I arrived,\u201d the witness said. \u201cOne of the admin staff-receptionists told me that a patient had attended the service about an hour ago, appeared agitated having to wait, then after a short while started smashing windows.\u201d<\/p>\n
This comes after RNZ revealed a case of intimidating behaviour at Palmerston North Hospital\u2019s emergency department, where security officers appeared powerless to intervene.<\/p>\n
RNZ has previously reported that there are growing numbers of incidents of violence and intimidation in New Zealand hospitals.<\/p>\n
The witness to the aftermath of the Waikato incident said the clinic was staffed mostly by female administrators and nurses, and the incident left them clearly rattled.<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand\u2019s group director for operations in Waikato, Stephanie Doe, said staff at the clinic followed safety procedures, including contacting security and police.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo patients or staff were injured during the incident. Patients who were present at the time were supported by staff and were able to continue with their appointments,\u201d Doe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaff received immediate support following the incident, and a review of the event and related security processes is being undertaken.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Health NZ\u2019s priority was the safety of its patients and staff.<\/p>\n
Police confirmed they were called to the scene after reports of a man damaging property.<\/p>\n
They said a 36-year-old man was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour, wilful damage and intentional damage. He would appear in court on 7 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWindows were already boarded up when I arrived,\u201d the witness said. \u201cOne of the admin staff-receptionists told me…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1117,27056,33912,42,2241,1736,5158,43,1118,33552,40,38,41,39,5157],"class_list":["post-584914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accused","tag-clinic","tag-ellingham","tag-headlines","tag-hospital","tag-jimmy","tag-man","tag-news","tag-of","tag-smashing","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}