‘Not the best way to go’: Advocates say permanent police to Winnipeg hospital may not curb violence

An ambulance drives past Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, on Thursday, June 15, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

In response to recent violent incidents at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre (HSC), Winnipeg police officers could soon be stationed at the province’s largest hospital on a permanent basis.

This announcement was confirmed by the province to CTV News earlier this week.

The latest development follows multiple violent incidents at the hospital in the past few years, including a recent situation where multiple women were sexually assaulted in and around the hospital in July.

“By funding dedicated police officers within the Health Sciences Centre emergency department, we are taking a proactive step to create a more secure and supportive environment for those seeking care and those providing it,” said Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who provided a statement to CTV News.

Five new weapon detection scanners will also be installed at the hospital entrances, in addition to the weapon detecting AI scanners that have already been in place since 2024.

“I think it’s a positive step,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU).

HSC grey listed by nurses

Doctors and nurses at the hospital have been raising safety concerns for months.

A recent Doctors Manitoba survey found that nearly 45 per cent of physical safety incidents among physicians in the province in the past year took place at HSC.

In August, workers within the MNU voted to grey list the hospital, due to unsafe working conditions.

Grey listing advises current and future workers not to seek employment at a specific facility, in this case the HSC, due to ongoing unsafe or inappropriate working conditions.

Jackson says she recommended adding police officers to the hospital on a permanent basis.

“I am pleased to see this. I think it’s a positive move, but it is just one move in a list of many moves that need to be made,” she said. “For the interim, I think it’s a positive move, but I’m not sure it’s a great long-term solution.”

More health-care workers needed: advocate

Steven Staples, national director of policy with the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), is concerned about the recent violence within Manitoba’s largest hospital. He says this is the first time he has heard of a Canadian hospital placing permanent police officers inside a facility.

“It does sound like a very special situation in this particular location,” said Staples. “I can sense this is a very critical moment.”

But Staples says he’s heard police officers stationed inside hospitals is not something health-care providers want to see across the country.

Instead, he says they want more staff in place.

“Part of the danger comes because there is not enough staff working in these facilities,” he said. “So, the money that is used for police officers may actually be better used by improving the ratios between health-care workers and the number of patients.”

Staffing is an important issue: CHC executive

Staples says staffing the health-care system has been an issue for a long time, adding that frontline health-care workers have called on the federal government to put together a task force to address rising violence.

“The safety issue and the number of health-care workers you have in a facility, they go hand-in-hand; they are linked together,” he said.

Jennifer Dunsford is a registered nurse and an assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Manitoba. She says the issue of violence within the health-care sector is not a new thing.

“Health care is a really high-risk profession, and I think it always has been that way,” she said. “But it seems to be increasing in risk lately.”

She has not experienced direct violence but has spoken to many nurses who have. She has done research into the rise in violence in the health-care sector.

“Every nurse I spoke to has a story,” she said. “I heard stories of being held at knifepoint, I heard stories of being punched. So, I think it’s a very common experience for nurses and other health-care providers that work directly with people, especially in hospitals, but across the health-care system.”

Role of police ‘different’ than health-care provider

While she believes that adding police officers to HSC will provide reassurance to staff in the short term, she said it also could cause some issues.

She says her research found that having police presence in health-care settings can actually escalate situations, rather than defuse them. An example, she said, could be someone who has trauma from a past experience with someone in uniform.

But there are other examples too.

“If there is someone who is experiencing the care as a threat because they don’t understand what is happening, then it might cause things to escalate a little bit more than they otherwise should,” she said.

She adds this decision should be accompanied by things like role clarity and training for staff.

“The role of police is different from the role of a health care provider,” she said. “In a health-care setting, it needs to be a health care provider driving the action.”

‘Alarming situation’

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says abuse and aggression toward health-care workers is on the rise across the country.

The results of the CMA’s 2021 National Physician Health Survey found that eight in 10 physicians have experienced intimidation, bullying, and/or harassment in the workplace at some point during their career.

“They expect and deserve a safe environment. They expect to be protected and safe when they are there,” said Dr. Margot Burnell, the CMA’s President.

She said attacks and abuse of health-care workers cannot be tolerated, and education must play a role in changing that.

“Much of this frustration that leads to some of these acts comes from very busy emergency departments and we certainly need public education to explain to patients that these are difficult situations, but safety is really critical,” she said.

“We hope that our public safety officers and law enforcement will be vigilant on this front.”

With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele, Milan Lukes, and Charles Lefebvre.