'Unacceptable way to get response': Increase in violence happening to frontline health workers
The Brant Community Healthcare System is reporting an increase in verbal and physical violence directed at frontline healthcare staff.
“We are asking that they [staff] be treated first with respect and with civility and not have to come to work and worry about being treated violently,” said Dr. David McNeil, president and CEO of the Brant Community Healthcare System.
Dr. McNeil wants to remind visitors to Brantford General Hospital or the Willett Urgent Care Centre to treat staff with the respect and courtesy they deserve.
“I’m unhappy that I have to actually issue a notice like this to the public," he said.
He said more staff are being physically hurt, and it’s an issue that is getting worse.
“It's a contributing factor to people leaving the profession, and it sure is a contributing factor to the moral distress that we're seeing within our frontline providers,” Dr. McNeil said.
According to Dr. McNeil, staffing shortages caused by the pandemic are making wait times in emergency rooms longer than usual.
However, he said lashing out at healthcare workers is not going to speed up the process.
“It's an unacceptable way to get [a] response,” Dr. McNeil said.
Since the pandemic started, violence against healthcare workers in Ontario has increased by 50 per cent, according to the Ontario Nurses’ Association.
“It is in every single place. It’s not only in hospital, it’s in-home care, public healthcare. It’s everywhere,” Cathryn Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association said.
Hoy said despite security and response systems in healthcare settings, nurses are facing violence daily. Some may not feel comfortable reporting it as well.
“They’re threatened, they’re grabbed by the throat, they’re choked, they’re punched, hit, spit, kicked, you name it,” Hoy said.
According to Hoy, some nurses can not return to work due to their injuries. She thinks extra security, like a metal detector, might be helpful for staff safety.
“You would be shocked at the weapons that come through the doors. We’ve had shootings in emergency departments. That’s ridiculous,” Hoy said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.