The lives of workers at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital (FPH) in Coquitlam are being endangered, according to their unions.
The B.C. Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU), which represents more than 270 members at the hospital, says recent serious assaults on staff at the institution by patients show a disturbing trend.
“There have been 21 injuries to staff since May of this year, by patients who are at the hospital for committing serious crimes,” said BCGEU treasurer Paul Finch in a press release. “There has been a clear and willful pattern of neglect on the part of the employer in addressing these real and substantial safety concerns.”
The B.C. Nurses Union (BCNU), which has 200 members working at FPH, reported last month two nurses were assaulted at FPH in the space of two weeks. The BCNU said on Aug. 13, a nurse in the maximum-security unit, the union said, received severe facial injuries in an incident. And on Aug. 5 a nurse was sucker punched and suffered head injuries.
“These ongoing assaults on nurses are simply unacceptable and cannot continue to happen,” said BCNU president Christine Sorensen in a press release.
She said her union has been working with management to improve safety in the long term, “But action is needed now. That’s why we are calling for the immediate addition of safety protection officers on every unit at the facility … we cannot continue to allow nurses to be used as punching bags and repeatedly hit or abused.”
The BCGEU asserts in the last five years, the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) has issued 57 safety orders and levied $171,000 in fines at FPH. It adds 102 WCB reports show FRH has failed to protect its workers and little progress has been made in securing the safety of the employees.
BCGEU wants increased security presence when any staff is interacting with potentially violent patients. The union claims, however, that’s something the B.C. Mental Health and Substance Use Services newly appointed chief operating officer Connie Coniglio has rejected because their presence could increase patient anxiety and trigger violent incidents.
Finch said a WCB report in March stated having security guards in the room would not cause violent outbreaks.
“Workers are being assaulted while treating patients without risk assessments being done, with inadequate security protection. One could make the case that the employer is complicit in these attacks on hospital staff,” said Finch.
In an emailed statement last month, Coniglio said the hospital takes all violent incidents very seriously.
“We do everything we can to keep our staff, physicians, and patients safe, including providing a full range of support for anyone involved in an incident to ensure his or her needs are met completely. Further, we conduct a thorough review of each incident so we can prevent it from happening again.”
Coniglio said a number of steps it has taken have led to an overall decrease in incidents in the last couple of years. She also said the organization has been working with an expert on staff training on handling high-risk patients as well as making facility improvements and procedure changes designed to protect the staff.
The BCGEU wants the province to put the facility under the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s jurisdiction instead of the Ministry of Health because currently too many of the patients who don’t pose a threat are being mixed with those that do.
“They’re conducting what’s essentially a failed experiment. They’re putting the safety of patients and staff at risk,” said Finch in an interview with The Tri-City News. “It’s long overdue for the government to deal with this. A cosmetic solution wouldn’t work. It’s a solution you won’t find unless you bring back the facility under the solicitor general.”
He cited an incident in which a worker was being choked by a patient who was fortunately saved by other staff.
“There’s been a systemic failure on the management of the facility,” said Finch. “The protocols in place are not sufficient enough to deal with this.”
Finch said the union will meet with the Provincial Health Services Authority which is responsible for FPH, and local management.
“We’re hopeful with meeting with management further, but we also realize this is an ongoing issue and patient-on-staff assaults continue,” said Finch adding the facility’s culture needs to change to fix that.
The union wants the government to make sure risk assessments are conducted on patients, adequate security is provided and there is funding for staff to take self-defence training.
“They’re quite concerned. They’ve been operating under these circumstances for a while. They universally say it’s not working. They constantly, and daily, say they’re at risk,” said Finch. “This is something that causes daily anxiety at the site.”
– with files from Diane Strandberg
newsroom@tricitynews.com
