Manitoba rolling out hospital safety improvements

A provincial plan to beef up safety and security in hospitals is getting a mixed response. Danton Unger explains.

The Manitoba government is looking to make hospitals a safer place for frontline workers and patients through several security upgrades.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced the province is adding to its complement of institutional safety officers (ISO) across this province.

“We had originally planned to have about 100 institutional safety officers across Manitoba,” Asagwara said. “We recognize that there was a greater need than that, and so we have made the investment to have 128, if we have to go further we will.”

This includes 60 ISOs at Health Sciences Centre, 20 in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, 18 at St. Boniface and Victoria General hospitals, and 12 at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

In addition, five new ISOs will begin shifts at Thompson General Hospital next month.

“Safety in our hospitals is not abstract; it is fundamental,” Asagwara said at a news conference on Thursday.

“And over the past years, nurses, doctors, allied health-care professionals have made their voices very clear—that they need more support to feel as safe as possible on the job, on the frontlines and doing their work.”

Along with the additional ISOs, the province is expanding the SAFE app’s availability to include St. Boniface Hospital, Health Sciences Centre and Brandon Regional Health Centre.

Through this app, staff members are provided with real-time safety alerts, a connection to security services, safety tools and emergency notifications.

The province also announced it will be installing amnesty lockers, which provide secure storage at entry points, at select facilities, including in Thompson and Swan River.

“This is about protecting people who provide care and protect Manitobans each and every day,” Asagwara said.

“Frontline workers deserve to feel and be safer, and when they do, we know that patient care becomes safer too.”

According to the province, the changes were informed by feedback from nurses, front-line workers and health-care unions.

Government forced into action: MAHCP

In a statement, Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), said the reason the province is working to improve safety for health-care workers is because it has been forced into action by health-care unions.

“MAHCP has taken government to court to enforce Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act on the province’s largest healthcare employer, Shared Health,” he said.

“Frontline professionals continue to experience assaults and injuries that can be prevented.”

Linklater goes on to say that these “limited” actions and investments are not cause for celebration because “employers are still not following legislated safety requirements.”

He added the province’s actions are the bare minimum and should have been done a long time ago.

“The 7,500 specialized health-care professionals MAHCP represents are relieved to see these long-overdue investments, but much more is needed to protect the people who show up for Manitobans every day in understaffed and increasingly dangerous environments,” the statement said.

Doctors Manitoba showed support for the province’s announcement, saying that it’s an important step toward making every health-care facility safe and accessible.

“We have been actively involved in offering recommendations to make health care safer and more accessible for everyone,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“While a significant step, we will continue to press for equally important community supports that require a culturally sensitive and trauma-informed approach.”

Darlene Jackson, the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said this is positive news, but it’s a long time coming.

“It’s probably been five years of nurses advocating for safer facilities to work in safer places to provide care for their patients,” said Jackson.

She also noted it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that the announcement is coming just before a grey-listing vote for St. Boniface Hospital.

“I feel that there’s definitely a move by the government to influence prior to the vote,” she said. “It feels very reactionary.”

Grey-listing is when the union tells nurses they may not want to apply for a job at the specific hospital, as it’s not viewed as a safe place.

Health Sciences Centre and Thompson General Hospital were both previously grey-listed last year.

Despite this announcement, Jackson doesn’t feel like it will sway the vote.

“I think nurses are done with promises that don’t get fulfilled. We’re still waiting for some of the campaign promises to be fulfilled and that’s two and a half years.”

Jackson wants the government to come to the table and collaborate, not only on nurse safety but also on patient safety.

“Let’s sit at a table and collaborate and talk about what we need to do proactively about safety in this province.”

In an emailed statement, PC Health Critic Kathleen Cook, said the opposition and NDP government need to work together on health care safety.

“We encourage the NDP government to bring in Institutional Safety Officers immediately. We need a commitment; we need a timeline; we need action,” she said.

“Let’s put petty politics aside and work together to make hospitals safe for patients and staff.”