The government of Saskatchewan is answering recurring calls from critics and workers across the province to address ongoing safety and security issues in its hospitals by launching an independent, third-party review.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill says the review will take a “broad look” at hospital protective services and their operations, how incidents are handled, and how safety can be strengthened in a way that maintains culturally safe and respective care environments.
“This review is about making sure our safety response evolves to meet the complex needs of patient access, staff and communities today and into the future,” Cockrill said Thursday at a news conference announcing the review.
Cockrill told reporters that the last review into the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s (SHA) security was conducted in 2018 and admitted that an update is needed to address current issues.
“The reality is the complexity of interactions, the complexity of patients coming into our facilities has changed,” he said.
The health minister said the review will also look to strengthen partnerships with Indigenous organizations and that the results will be shared with the public.
The move comes just over a week after dozens of health-care workers at St. Paul’s Hospital sent a letter requesting a safety plan from the SHA.
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Earlier this month, 36-year-old Trevor Dubois died in an altercation with security staff at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital (RUH).
In November, a man entered Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s hospital with a sawed-off shotgun and several knives, prompting the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses to call on the provincial government to implement additional security measures such as metal detectors.
Cockrill said that while both incidents speak to the rise in violent incidences in hospitals, the review is more of an opportunity to “take a step back” to look at the issues in the system at large.
The SHA also announced additional details Thursday on its plan to continue rolling out metal detectors to emergency rooms in some of the province’s major cities.
This move follows a “successful” pilot project at RUH late last year, where metal detectors were placed at the shared emergency department entrance at RUH and Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, said SHA CEO Andrew Will, adding that the province ordered additional metal detectors in December for “broader employment.”
Metal detectors were installed Monday in Saskatoon in the emergency departments of both St. Paul’s Hospital and Saskatoon City Hospital and in Regina on Tuesday at Regina General Hospital and Pasqua Hospital.
“Initial reports indicate that metal detectors at these sites have already resulted in weapons being confiscated and they are also having a deterrent effect,” Will told reporters Thursday.
Metal detectors will also be brought in February to Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital, Battlefords Union Hospital and the Regina Urgent Care Centre.
The province will hire 51 new protective service workers to staff the metal detectors. The total bill of the detectors and new positions is expected to cost the government $3 million, according to Will.
Lisa Zunti, president of SEIU-West, a union representing over 13,000 health-care workers across Saskatchewan, said Thursday that the metal detectors are a “great start” but that it is not the only solution.
“We need consultation from the front-line workers that are in these situations and we need that to start now,” Zunti said.
“This has been going on for years and years and with the increase of the population in this province, the different types of street drugs that we are seeing and more patients with complex conditions, we are only going to see an increase in this.”
The Ministry of Health is tasked with choosing who will lead the independent review.
Will and Cockrill were unable to provide a timeline for when they expect the review to begin and finish, but say it will happen “as quickly as possible.”
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