Employees at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C. have faced a troubling number of assaults at work in recent months, according to their union, which is calling for better security measures at the facility.
Most patients at the Colony Farm psychiatric hospital are being treated for mental illness after courts deemed them unfit to stand trial or not criminally responsible.
The hospital serves an important purpose – helping to prepare these patients for court, or for safe reintegration into society – but during that treatment, the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union says staff members are being subjected to an unacceptable safety risk.
Patients have injured Colony Farm employees 21 times since May alone, according to the BCGEU's Paul Finch.
"There has been a clear and willful pattern of neglect on the part of the employer in addressing these real and substantial safety concerns," Finch said in a news release.
But Dr. Connie Coniglio, chief operation officer of Complex Mental Health and Substance Use Services, told CTV News they are already in the process of introducing a "therapeutic and relational security" model that the hospital is hopeful will curb these kinds of attacks.
"We share the union's concerns about safety," Coniglio said. "Our nurses and our health care workers, they're our most prized asset. They make this place work. They're critical."
While the BCGEU wants to see more security staff on hand at the hospital, Dr. Coniglio said the approach being implemented – which focuses on anticipating violent incidents and de-escalating them – has shown positive results in similar forensic psychiatric facilities in the U.K. and other jurisdictions.
"Our patients are complex. Our patients have severe mental illness and sometimes substance use history and we have to focus on the best practices for reducing the risks," she said.
According to BCGEU, executives have expressed concerns that bringing in more security staff would make patients more anxious and potentially lead to even more violence – a fear the union rejects.
"The Workers Compensation Board clearly stated in a March report that the presence of security personnel does not cause violent outbreaks," said Finch. "Workers are being assaulted while treating patients without risk assessments being done, with inadequate security protection."
Most of the 270-odd Forensic Psychiatric Hospital staff represented by the union work one-on-one with patients as health care providers, rehabilitation workers and security, the BCGEU said.
The Workers Compensation Board has issued 57 safety orders at the hospital over the last five years and issued one $171,000 fine, but there has been little in the way of security improvements, according to the union.
Coniglio said the therapeutic and relational security model will continue being rolled out throughout the fall, but that there have already been separate changes implemented, including improved violence prevention and incident response training for new staff members.
