Victorian opposition pledges to station PSOs at Melbourne's busiest hospitals

PSOs will be stationed at five major Melbourne hospitals if the Coalition is elected in November, under a plan to improve safety for hospital staff in and around the facilities.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has announced a Liberals-Nationals government would undertake a two-year trial of having 75 PSOs (Victoria Police Protective Service Officers) based at Melbourne's busiest hospitals to help fix the state's health system crisis.

"The Liberals and Nationals are committed to fix the health crisis, and this starts by supporting our healthcare workers to feel safe and valued when carrying out their important work," he said.

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The PSOs would be on hand at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Dandenong Hospital, Box Hill Hospital, Frankston Hospital and Sunshine Hospital to provide immediate support to hospital staff or police dealing with mental health patients or those influenced by drugs and alcohol, according to the plan.

The plan is designed to reduce the rate of physical and verbal abuse levelled at healthcare staff, stopping it from pushing the staff to wanting to leave their careers, and to free up police resources.

However, shadow health minister Georgie Crozier confirmed none of the hospitals have been consulted about the proposal as yet.

Victoria's Police Association has backed the idea, with its secretary Wayne Gatt saying it "makes good sense".

"It sounds like a good idea. We think it's got some merit," he said.

"There's been a police presence at a hospital since 2am this morning looking after a person in custody.

"That police presence could have been released to the Brunswick community, where it belongs, if we had a PSO presence at that hospital."

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But the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM), says it is concerned the proposal could potentially do the opposite of its intention and decrease safety at emergency departments.

ACEM is instead calling for specially trained security guards to be stationed in hospitals.

"Security guards should be a trusted and trained part of the ED team, employed by the hospital and working closely with nurses and doctors. They should practice in a trauma-informed manner and be experts in calm and empathic de-escalation," ACEM chair Dr Belinda Hibble said.