NPAV News

CODE BLACKOUT: Victoria’s Hospital Crisis Has Gone Too Far

Every nurse and midwife in Victoria knows what it means to finish a shift with your heart racing — not because of patient care, but because you’re walking to your car in the dark, alone, with no protection.

We are launching CODE BLACKOUT across Victoria because our hospitals are not safe. Not inside. Not outside. And not for the people doing the work that keeps this state alive.

In Queensland, our sister union NPAQ has already forced change — car park expansions, shuttle services, and hospital management being dragged into the light. But here in Victoria, despite countless Code Greys and Code Blacks, the silence continues.

We are done waiting.

A State in Denial, A Frontline in Crisis

Every shift, Victorian health workers are spat on, kicked, cornered, or screamed at. In emergency departments, in stairwells, in the very places designed to care for people.

But what’s worse is what happens next — nothing.

Most incidents go unreported. When they are reported, they’re downgraded. Staff are told to file online, follow up themselves, and “manage the risk.” In the meantime, they walk to their cars with keys between their fingers because management refuses to pay for lighting or security to walk them out.

We’ve heard it all:

“A patient threatened to rape me. They wrote it up as a ‘minor harm.’”
“We begged for cameras. Still nothing.”
“Security just says they can’t help outside the front doors.”

This isn’t isolated. It’s systemic. And it’s breaking people.