A 20-minute litany of hospital horror stories about violence against nurses and other medical staff was recounted Wednesday in the legislature, as Opposition critics focused on a problem that looks to be getting worse, not better.
One year ago, the legislature was occupied for several days with the dangers decriminalized drug use in hospitals was posing to medical staff.
They were exposed to noxious fumes and cited lax safety measures. The complaints prompted some curbs on drug use, changes to occupational health and safety protocols and increased security.
Former health minister Adrian Dix cited then the hiring of 320 more security officers in the health-care sector as part of the government’s commitment to staff safety.
But physical violence against staff continues to be an issue, Conservative Party of B.C. MLAs insist.
Ten MLAs spent the entire question period citing specific examples and demanding a response from government to a problem that is escalating all over.
The number of security staff in health care now stands at 750 and the stories of brutal attacks are still coming in.
Opposition critic Elenore Sturko charged that two nurses in metro Vancouver who were severely injured and may be unable to work were later blamed in a WorkSafe investigation.
Staffing shortages force choices between treating a problem patient or delaying care, she said, and nurses can lose their licences in either scenario.
Sturko said a 33-year-old psychiatric nurse took her own life last month after she was attacked twice at work.
Conservative Party of B.C. MLA Kiel Giddens said the BC Nurses Union reports an estimated 46 serious assaults per month.
In Langley, a nurse was assaulted with a weapon during a fight between two patients. A student nurse last year was attacked by a patient with a knife in her first placement in Vancouver, he said.
Nurses were quoted as saying: “We see weapons on a regular basis, knives, box cutters, guns, and more recently, a crossbow.”
BC Conservative MLA Claire Rattee said a nurse was strangled unconscious last month in a Vancouver psychiatric ward.
The paramedic who was beaten last year while attending a call on Pandora Avenue as dozens of people threatened other first responders was cited by BC Conservative MLA Brennan Day.
After Health Minister Josie Osborne said any and all such incidents need to be brought to light, several more cases at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody were cited.
Opposition critic Lorne Doerkson said after three attacks, “staff were told to plan escape routes” before security was eventually increased.
The violence has been increasing for years. The BCNU established a violence support hotline in 2015, and later replaced it with a similar service.
Osborne said she was dedicated to ensuring health workplaces are free from violence. She emphasized the “relational security officers” who are trained to de-escalate situations and identify aggressive behaviour.
Weapons are banned from hospitals and screening is in place at some locations.
“That is a very serious step to take. Conversations regarding the feasibility of implementing more weapons detection are underway.
“It’s sad place to be where we have to recognize this, but it’s important that we take action.”
She said specialized teams of police and mental-health workers are in place to respond to hospital incidents.
Osborne said B.C. is hiring more nurses than any other province — 10,400 were registered last year — and has made commitments around minimum nurse-patient ratios.
“We’re going to continue to listen to the nurses’ union and work with them.”
But BC Conservative MLA Trevor Halford said Osborne’s explanations are the same ones her predecessor Dix had.
Funding was hiked last year to boost the increase in security. But Halford said Osborne confirmed elsewhere that there is no new money for further hikes in this year’s budget.
“We’ve had minister after minister stand up and talk about the importance of keeping our front-line workers safe, but they don’t walk the walk.”
For all the talk of safety on Wednesday, the sizable increase in security staff only handles violence when it is happening.
Preventing it entirely is more about dealing with chronic dangerous drug use and brain damage. But that’s a separate argument.
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