Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Frenzied’ Perth woman forced her way into hospital staff base and attacked nurse

Dr Whittaker was a trainee doctor at PRI. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson.
Dr Whittaker was a trainee doctor at PRI. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson.

A “frenzied” Perth woman stormed into Perth Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency staff base and attacked an on-duty nurse.

Elizabeth Williamson, of Leslie Court, had arrived at A&E at around 9.40pm on August 29 2019.

Staff nurse Moira MacLeod was in the nearby treatment room area when Williamson began shouting aggressively in the reception area.

Depute Fiscal Bill Kermode told the court the secure double doors, which usually block the treatment area from reception, were open.

Williamson was shouting, “I need to see a doctor” and banging on the reception window.

Mr Kermode said she then ran through the waiting room to the treatment area.

Perth woman attacked nurse
Perth Royal Infirmary.

Working nurses attempted to calm her but she continued to shout she needed to see a doctor.

“The accused moved into the staff base, picked up staff water bottles and threw them around,” he added.

Witnesses trying to calm her down described her as “in a total frenzy.”

Williamson then placed two hands on Ms MacLeod’s shoulders and pushed her against the wall.

The 64-year-old nurse was not injured.

Hallucinating

Medical staff who saw Williamson’s attack were under the impression she was under the influence of a controlled substance.

A hospital alarm was sounded and police quickly arrived at the scene as Williamson left the treatment area.

Mr Kermode told the court police felt Williamson was “experiencing some form of episode,” and that she was hallucinating.

Williamson, 36, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at A&E.

She was also convicted of assaulting, obstructing or hindering registered nurse Moira MacLeod by pushing her on the body, against a wall.

Williamson appeared at Perth Sheriff court on Wednesday and was ordered to be of good behaviour until a further review in four months.

Police assault

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis stressed a crucial aspect of her good behaviour will be complying with an unpaid work order he issued for a separate offence.

On March 31 2019, she had phoned police in the early hours of the morning, alleging there was somebody in the back garden of her Fairfield home.

When officers arrived, she assaulted them, repeatedly attempting to punch PC Mark Ross and kick he and a colleague on the body.

Perth Sheriff Court.

For her police attack, Williamson was handed 120 hours of unpaid work, to be completed in nine months.

Sheriff Foulis said: “It totally escapes me and has done for all the time I have sat on the bench in Perth Sheriff Court that persons behave in an abusive, obstructive and violent way to medical staff.

“I in no shape or form condone it but one can envisage there are cases where police officers are on the receiving end.

“Police officers are trained to deal with this and have things with them.

“Medical staff do not have these, nor do they have training but it seems nowadays some people apparently don’t have any issue with behaving in an abusive, obstructive or threatening way to these staff.”

The Sheriff said Williamson was “asking for trouble” by taking controlled substances.