The B.C. Nurses’ Union is ramping up pressure on the province to do more to reduce violence in hospitals as it works to secure a new collective bargaining agreement with the government.
“If nurses aren’t safe, if the health-care staff aren’t safe, there are impacts on patient care,” union president Adriane Gear said in a phone call on Thursday morning (Oct. 23).
The union’s last collective agreement expired on March 31, just like the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) public service deal. Those workers began negotiations first — and are now on strike — while the nurses are just getting bargaining underway this week.
The nurses’ union presented a list of needs to coincide with the opening of negotiations.
These include a commitment to improving nurse-to-patient ratios, the public release of data on violent incidents and more security in hospitals — including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect weapons.
Health Minister Josie Osborne confirmed that the last piece is in the works.
“We know there is a health authority that’s willing to pilot this technology,” she said. “We’re willing to try piloting this technology.”
While some may object to walking through a detector to enter a hospital, Gear makes the point that you cannot get onto an airplane without walking through a metal detector, and most people consider this normal.
“Hospitals should be sanctuaries,” Gear said. “People should feel safe being in a hospital.”
Gear also wants the government to expand the use of relational security officers to more types of facilities, and do a better job training them.
Osborne said the health ministry is moving those officers into facilities identified by the union, and that where those officers are in place, there is a reduction in incidents of violence and in lost work hours.
Gear said the investments so far are “a good start,” but many facilities in the province still have no security.
She would also like the government to do more to collect data on violent incidents and to make that information publicly available so people can compare how each health authority is performing.
Gear said the union is seeing increasing WorkSafe B.C. claims involving lost time related to violent incidents, with reports up by about 53 to 55 per cent since 2015.
“We need to start holding health authorities accountable,” Gear said, “like, which ones are doing a better job than others.”
Osborne acknowledged the problems in hospitals and said she is open to making data publicly available.
“Nurses are reporting incidents of violence that are completely unacceptable in hospitals and health-care settings.”
The top of the union’s list of needs is for the government to do more to meet obligations on nurse-to-patient ratios. Gear says violence in the workplace undermines this commitment by damaging retention efforts.
B.C. Green Party Leader Emily Lowan told reporters she spoke with the representatives from the nurses union earlier in the day on Thursday, and called for a commitment to a “systemic review” to address these issues.