Update 2:20 p.m. The B.C. Nurses' Union (BCNU) has released more details into the violent attack of a physician, saying that the patient left him for dead.
According to BCNU President Gayle Duteil, nurses at the psychiatric unit that afternoon say that the patient was calmly walked out of a closed door session with the physician, announcing that the doctor might be dead.
The doctor was then found “unconscious and severely beaten”. As Dr. Halpenny said in the Interior Health press conference, the physician seems to be recovering “as well as can be expected” and was bright and alert when visited.
Duteil said that this violent incident highlights a dangerous lack of security in psychiatric and forensic facilities in B.C. “The health authorities aren’t providing basic safety for staff,” said Duteil. “Every day, nurses and other health care professionals put themselves on the line and risk being attacked on the job because of inadequate protection against violent patients. When will the health authorities start listening to nurses and provide security systems which could prevent this kind of dreadful attack?”
BCNU President Gayle Duteil. (Photo Credit: BCNU)
The BCNU is demanding an investigation, saying that the Interior Health should immediately provide personal alarms, security cameras, security specifically assigned to psychiatric units, and assurances the patient will not be returned to the unit. The nurses' union is demanding that if this patient is sent to a different site, a risk assessment and safety plan must be inplace as well as additional trained staff and security prior to the transfer.
According to Duteil, BCNU has demanded multiple times for better protection for nurses. In the past year, she says, there have been several high profile attacks on nurses.
“Does someone have to die before the health authority starts providing basic safety measures such as personal alarms in forensic and psychiatric facilities?” Duteil asked.
Update 1:45 p.m.: Interior Health has responded to the incident, saying that one of their physicians was seriously injured at around 4:00 p.m. on Friday while conducting a routine interview with a psychiatric patient. Interior Health President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Robert Halpenny would not comment on the injuries sustained, except that they were serious enough to have the doctor transported to Kelowna General Hospital. Dr. Halpenny says that he is “doing as well as can be expected” and was bright and alert when Dr. Halpenny visited him.
Dr. Halpenny said that this patient was familiar to the physician and is currently in RCMP custody. He is not aware of any charges that have been laid and said that there was nothing marking the patient as being unusually of risk in the psychiatric ward. “I wouldn't say this individual was obviously any different than any other patient in that environment. The physician himself felt comfortable to meet with the patient.”
Interior Health is working with the RCMP and WorkSafeBC to review the incident and make recommendations for the future, and this process will take a few months to complete. According to Dr. Halpenny, Interior Health expanded its violence prevention program in 2006 and has seen a 38 per cent decrease in violence in the last five years. At the time of the incident, he said that they were already looking at improving the call system to put in personal alarm devices in that site. “I'm not sure in this instance if it would have made all that much difference, but it is something we're taking into consideration.” Dr. Halpenny said that the response in this case was “immediate”.
The BC Nurses' Union will be having their own press conference on the incident at 2:00 p.m.
Original Story:
The BC Nurses' Union has confirmed that a health care professional is seriously injured after an altercation with a patient in Penticton.
According to the union, the health care professional has multiple injuries after being “savagely assaulted” by one of the patients in the Penticton Regional Hospital's psychiatric unit. The injured health care professional is currently recovering in hospital.
Penticton Regional Hospital. (Photo Credit: Google Maps)
President of the BC Nurses' Union Gayle Duteil will be speaking at a press conference this afternoon to give more details. Duteil will apparently also be demanding better security for both nurses and health care professionals in forensic and psychiatric facilities.
Interior Health is also providing a statement earlier this afternoon.
More to come.
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