Armed hospital guards not the answer: AMA

Australian Medical Association president Professor Brian Owler fears arming guards in hospitals will only lead to more incidents such as the double shooting in a western Sydney hospital.

The shooting of a police officer and a security guard at Nepean Hospital in Penrith on Tuesday night shows that current security is inappropriate in the face of drug-affected patients, Prof Owler said.

But he stressed that although the violence was "alarming", putting more guns in hospitals would place staff and patients at greater risk.

"I think that's a very dangerous path to go down and I think this incident illustrates exactly why that is. What we need to do is make sure that we have ample security ... that doesn't mean more guns," he said.

Prof Owler said the incident at Nepean Hospital was "very alarming".

"This new problem of ice has really raised the level to a greater height, and the drug really causes people to be very difficult to control, and particularly when they're in these episodes of psychosis," he told the Nine Network on Thursday.

The policeman was shot after arriving at Nepean Hospital following reports a 39-year-old man had held a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor.

The man was able to get a hold of the officer's gun during a scuffle, and allegedly shot him in the upper thigh, with the same bullet then hitting the hospital security guard.