Occupational violence towards nurses and midwives has surged in the last six years, according to a report released by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA).
The ‘Occupational Violence: has no place in my workplace’ report uncovered startling findings, highlighting the prevalence of violence and aggression among nurses, midwives and carers in their workplaces.
The report shows 88% of nurses, midwives and carers who were surveyed over six months during 2025 had experienced or witnessed violence and aggression, up from 80% reported in 2019.
Other key findings include:
- Public sector nurses and midwives experienced the highest frequency of occupational violence, with 92% of respondents subjected to it in the last six months.
- Workers in residential aged care were more likely to experience physical violence compared to other types of violence.
- Occupational violence was significantly underreported with only a quarter of respondents saying they report all incidents.
- Specialties with severe clinical workforce shortages, such as midwifery, experienced higher worker on worker violence.
Violence and aggression were a systemic and widespread issue facing nurses and midwives across all health sectors in NSW, said NSWNMA General Secretary, Michael Whaites.
“We know occupational violence has a significant impact on our members, with many reporting psychological harm and trauma as a result. This leads to higher rates of burnout and workers compensation claims among nurses and midwives.
“When it comes to effective prevention measures, our members need more nursing and midwifery staffing, safer and secure physical environments and additional security staff.
“We know our hospitals and aged care facilities are under strain as a result of understaffing. We need to see governments and aged care providers bolster staffing to prevent violence and aggression from occurring in the first place.”
The report outlines more than 30 recommendations on key themes including risk management, sufficient staffing, incident reporting, health facility design, and management of patients with a high propensity of violence.
A lack of user-friendly reporting procedures and subsequent action by management had led to a loss of confidence in the system, said NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Katrina Bough.
The report identified members from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds were less likely to report violence in their workplace, while hate speech and sexual assaults were experienced at a higher rate by CALD members.
“We know there are significant barriers to reporting incidents of violence and aggression, which results in many physical and verbal cases going undetected and unreported,” said Ms Bough.
“Less than two in 10 respondents who reported occupational violence believe any action was taken as a result of their report.
“This, combined with the complexity of reporting systems, extreme workloads, and a feeling of not being listened to when raising issues, are the significant barriers identified by our members. The recommendations in this report seek to remove and minimise some of these barriers.”
More than 1,300 NSWNMA members from across all sectors, including public and private hospitals and health settings, primary care and aged care took part in the survey. A copy of the report is available here: ‘Occupational Violence: has no place in my workplace’
