The safety of nurses has come under the spotlight following the shooting at the New Somerset Hospital.
Nurse trade union, DENOSA, says it’s important that hospital management conducts profiling of all patients admitted.
This is to provide more history about patients.
The provincial Department of Health and Wellness has confirmed that the patients who sparked the incident were not psychiatric patients.
DENOSA’s Jaco van Heerden says the profiling process must be shared with nurses.
“Does he belong to a gangster group, or is he a gangster? Because one can anticipate some retaliation. Therefore, the security must then be strengthened and more nursing staff needs to be present.”
Meanwhile, lawyers claim that the man accused of the hospital shooting is depressed and suicidal.
The accused, Jean-Paul Malgas, made his first appearance in the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
