“An action plan consisting of several safety measures has been developed to improve safety in the emergency department,” says the SAH spokesperson
Hospitals are becoming increasingly dangerous places to work for nurses, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Unifor, which together represent thousands of frontline workers working in Northern Ontario hospitals.
Sault Area Hospital says efforts are underway to address workplace violence.
“Based on the findings of the environmental risk assessment, an action plan consisting of several safety measures has been developed to improve emergency department safety,” SAH spokeswoman Brandi Sharpe Young wrote in an email to SooToday on Wednesday.
Union representatives discussed patient violence against nurses in a virtual presentation Tuesday.
“I think hospitals need to do a better job of creating an environment where people who are there to get health care know that if they are abusive in any way, there are going to be some serious consequences and they can put themselves in a situation where they are denied care until violence is not part of the equation,” said Andy Savella, director of health care for Unifor, speaking to SooToday from Thunder Bay on Wednesday.
“I don’t think anything should be ruled out, including increased patient screening,” Savella said, referring to making hospitals safer places to work for nurses, doctors and staff.
“We can’t get into people’s purses. These are their personal things, so you become very vulnerable if the patient is agitated and has brought in a stick or a dirty syringe needle or a knife, especially if you have your back to the patient. This could have serious consequences,” said Sharon Richter, secretary-treasurer of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, speaking from Toronto.
Unifor says violence by some patients — already fatigued by COVID, mental health and addiction issues or other forms of stress — may arise out of frustration with long wait times for care, which Unifor blames on a shortage of nurses.
That shortage, Unifor says, can be blamed on the provincial government.
“Much of the responsibility lies with the provincial government’s underfunding of the hospital sector. That’s who needs to step up and provide some funding and get involved in the conversation about what can be done. We simply cannot have hospitals as places where there is violence,” Savella said.
“It’s definitely a personnel issue. The wage restraint legislation — House Bill 124 — is definitely not helping,” Richer said.
Bill 124, introduced by the provincial government in 2019, caps nurse wage increases at one per cent per year.
Medical officials said it has caused some overworked nurses — also fearful of workplace violence — to leave the profession and has also discouraged younger college- and university-aged people from considering a career in nursing.
Bill 124 needs to be revised because inflation is rising, Richer said.
“What we do know is that hospitals … are increasingly toxic and dangerous workplaces where violence and meanness against a workforce that is more than 90 per cent female in the case of Northern Ontario hospitals is not only tolerated , but unfortunately, it is largely ignored,” the unions wrote in an earlier statement.
“This surge in physical and sexual violence against women and racially motivated attacks comes against a backdrop of severe and unprecedented staff shortages and vacancies in our hospitals.”
“Staff is a problem. We see the highest level in skeletal wards where there are few vacancies on each floor during a shift and patients wait longer. People have less patience for it. If we know the patient might be aggressive, we’d like to go in with two nurses, but there’s just not enough staff. The government needs to put more money into staffing these units,” Richer said.
“In July, staff at the Sault Regional Hospital were attacked by a patient who threw an oxygen tank and uttered threats. In the fall of 2021, several employees at Lake of the Woods in Kenora walked out of the hospital because of what administration said was a 300 percent increase in staff harassment,” the unions say.
Richer said reports of workplace violence don’t always find a sympathetic ear from hospital administrators.
“Hospital administrators have policies, but we found those policies had no teeth. Often health workers who were victims of violence were brought in and questioned and felt as if they were to blame for the violence. What comes from their manager or supervisor is “what did you do to provoke this act?”
“The general public, when you talk to them, are really surprised that this is happening, and if we don’t talk about it, it’s never going to be fixed.”
Richer said an email her union sent to Premier Doug Ford and the new health minister, Sylvia Jones, asking for a meeting to discuss workplace violence has yet to be confirmed.
“Our members feel demoralized.”
In addition to better pay and adequate staffing, Richter said nurses need whistleblower protections.
“We have many members who have been injured on the job and are afraid to speak up because they are afraid of being terminated because of the hospital’s media policy.”
SooToday reported violent incidents at Sault Area Hospital in the recent past.
“The action plan is currently in various stages of implementation at our hospital,” Sharp Young said
“These measures include reconfiguration of access to primary emergency care, line-of-sight improvements, additional CCTV cameras, policy and procedure improvements (violence flagging, development of safety plans, safety drills and simulation exercises), personal panic buttons for healthcare workers and training and safety training for staff and doctors. This work is being done with emergency staff and doctors, the hospital security team and other key stakeholders such as SSM Police Services and SSM Paramedic Services.’
“At Sault Area Hospital, we take all incidents of violence seriously and are working to reduce incidents of violence in our facilities. Cases of violence may still occur regardless of our efforts. Violence of any kind is not tolerated at our facility and incidents of such behavior will result in appropriate action by SAH, which may include removal from our facility and/or criminal prosecution,” Sharp Young wrote.
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