Hospital staff made nearly 700 distress calls in the two a half years to June this year.
A Freedom of Information report for Family First MP Robert Brokenshire has detailed the type and amount of physical and verbal abuse facing the hospital staff.
From January 2012 to June this year, there were 699 Code Black distress calls by staff or patients being threatened or assaulted.
In the year to June, hospital staff made 22 injury reports.
The FOI detailed a March 13 incident where a nurse was punched in the ribs after the nurse and two other workers tried to calm an aggressive patient.
On November 11 last year, a staff member receive a cut to the nose and bruising to their face after being attacked and verbally threatened by a patient.
Mr Brokenshire believed most Code Black incidents involved mental health and drug and alcohol-affected patients.
“We have a serious issue in the ED in Noarlunga and we need to accept that,” Mr Brokenshire said.
“I’ve had constituents say to me they’ve witnessed incidents first hand and they feel threatened in the ED let along with the doctors and nurses.”
Mr Brokenshire said transforming Noarlunga’s GP Plus Super Clinic into a treatment building with beds for mental health and drug and alcohol-addicted patients was a solution.
“The ill conceived GP super clinic that costs millions of dollars could become a huge benefit for the south due to its location,” he said.
Mr Brokenshire said it could add more bed options than what was on offer at the hospital’s mental health ward – the Morier Ward.
The State Government announced in July it would spend $2.5 million to create a community health centre, on Alexander Kelly Drive, which will involve part of the super clinic being redeveloped.
Parliamentary secretary to the Premier Leesa Vlahos said work would begin next month and be completed mid-next year.
The centre would not have beds, but instead provide support to people with mental health and complement the Intermediate Care Centre and the Trevor Parry Recovery Centre, which have beds for different stages of recovery.
In response to Code Black incidents at the hospital, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Belinda Moyes said providing a safe environment for staff, patients and families remained a key priority.
“Highly skilled staff are trained to manage patients who may be intoxicated or those who have
mental health or medical issues which are responsible for Code Blacks being initiated,” Ms Moyes said.
“A Code Black does not always indicate a violent incident has occurred and many reported
Code Blacks require no intervention from the emergency response team.”