A review will scrutinise whether frontline workers at NSW public hospitals are being better protected from violence after recommendations were made to improve their safety.
Health Minister Ryan Park ordered the review, saying he was "very concerned" about the number of attacks on health care workers in the past few months.
"Health care workers are right on the front line for attack," he told parliament during Question Time on Thursday, citing a series of incidents in which health care workers were seriously assaulted in inner-west Sydney last week.
Speaking to 2GB Sydney, Mr Park said he would not allow health workers to become "punching bags".
"I'm not going to have the situation where health workers - no matter what level they are in the system - feel as though they are just punching bags," he said.
The safety of health staff was his "number one priority" and workers had a right to come to work without being injured, he said.
Following a major examination of hospital security led by former health minister Peter Anderson, a 2021 report made 107 recommendations to improve safety in hospitals.
They included standardising security practices across NSW, building the capability of staff to respond to aggression and violence and trialling defensive protective equipment for security staff.
Mr Park has asked Mr Anderson to assess any progress made and advise on any further actions required.
"When I came into this job, I wanted to get a sense of how far we've got as a health care system in implementing these recommendations ... and to be quite frank, we need to do better," the minister said.
Mr Park said hospital emergency departments present an environment that is "a very, very different one to what it was 15 or 20 years ago" with increased presentations in those who are mentally unwell and drug and alcohol affected.
The NSW crimes act was amended last year to improve safeguards for frontline emergency and health workers.
The new laws, which came into effect in October, mean patients can face up to 14 years behind bars for assaulting a frontline worker.
AMA NSW president Michael Bonning is calling for the same protections to apply to doctors, who he says are often confronted by aggressive patients.
“I have been attacked in the workplace and so have many doctors I know - we need protection too," he said.
Sydney paramedic Steven Tougher was killed on the job in April, while an emergency department doctor was recently stabbed in Tasmania.
