Expressing  concerns about staff numbers, job training and facility safety, hospital security guards in Australia want the power to detain or restrain violent patients, according to an article on the Sydney Morning Herald website.

A survey of more than 600 security guards and hospital workers, conducted by the Health Services Union shows almost unanimous support for better training, re-designed emergency departments and revised arrangements with New South Wales police.

More than 95 percent want more security staff to be able to deal with high levels of violence and 90 percent supported legislation to introduce health-specific powers of restraint and detention under limited circumstances. 

In the HSU survey, workers have exposed numerous security issues in hospitals, from the inability for guards to search patients' bags for weapons to uniforms that make people mistake them as taxi drivers and cleaners.

Read the article.