A recent example of violence include three women bashing two security guards at the Royal Women's Hospital. Nurses want more highly trained security guards at hospitals, slamming the State Government for backing down on a $21 million security boost promised two years ago. Health Services Union Victorian secretary Diana Asmar, who represents hospital security guards, said her members wanted the same weapons as Armaguard staff. Ms Asmar said guards were already monitoring violent patients but had also been forced to collect cash on behalf of patients, who had been bringing thousands of dollars into emergency departments. "To have security guards carrying valuables, normally they would carry arms like Armaguard," she said. Ms Asmar said the union would raise the matter with health authorities and take the matter to Fair Work Australia if it did not get an acceptable response. Recent examples of violence include: A PATIENT trashed Werribee Mercy Hospital emergency department; A REGISTRAR at a Melbourne hospital was threatened by a visitor claiming to have an HIV-infected needle; THREE women bashed two security guards in the Royal Women's Hospital emergency department; A NURSE was hit on the head by a disturbed patient; AN ELDERLY patient punched two nurses; and A PATIENT allegedly threatened nurses with a machete at a Melbourne emergency department. Nurses federation secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick admitted security was a problem at hospitals, but said armed guards were not the solution. "Numbers (of security guards) are more important than arms," she said. The Government said it would spend $21 million on security. That's another broken promise. All we got was $1.2 million for distress alarms. AMA Victorian president Stephen Parnis said hospitals needed highly trained security staff who were part of the health care team and employed by the hospital. "You can't have a security guard who one night has a job at a nightclub, and then moves to the hospital the next," he said. A 2011 parliamentary inquiry, prompted by the Coalition Government's plan to put armed Protective Services Officers in emergency departments, rejected plans to give security guards guns. Victorian Government spokesman Ashley Gardiner said it was drafting new laws with harsher penalties for people who attacked emergency services staff.