The B.C. government has announced the hiring of security personnel for 26 hospitals and mental health facilities across the province, including at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says 320 “in-house protection service officers” and 14 “violence prevention leads” tasked with preventing violence will be hired as part of new security model meant to enhance the safety of nurses and other health-care staff as well as patients and the public.

“Ensuring our health-care facilities are free of violence will not only help us recruit and retain health-care workers, but it will also improve patient care and continuity,” he said.

“Establishing SWITCH BC furthered our commitment to create safe and welcoming workplaces for our health-care employees, and this latest action empowers security personnel to support these efforts.”

Included in the announcement is expanded funding for SWITCH BC, a new organization focused on addressing workplace safety. It is getting $2 million, which the government says is in addition to $8.5 million in funding over three years announced in 2019 to establish the organization.

“Everyone working in health care has the right to be safe and healthy, to thrive on the job and to return home safely to family and friends. That’s why we are inviting everyone working in health care to share their experiences as we refresh violence prevention training,” Victoria Schmid, the CEO of SWITCH BC said, in a statement.

“This will help shape an inclusive, diverse and trauma-informed program that better meets the needs of health-care teams now and into the future.”

The health ministry says the security model will ensure that all personnel “have an acute awareness of patients and their surroundings, as well as how to anticipate, de-escalate and ultimately prevent aggression.”

They also note it is based on trauma-informed practice, which “integrates knowledge of how people are affected by trauma into procedures, practices and services to create a safer environment for staff and patients.”

The BC Nurses Union has been calling for better protective measures for its members for at least 30 years.

President, Aman Grewal, says nurses are punched, kicked, grabbed and verbally and sexually harassed at increasingly dangerous workplaces, where injury rates are under-reported and higher than those affecting first responders.

“After years of advocating for increased safety for nurses, BCNU welcomes this announcement and considers it a positive step toward addressing the increased violence we are seeing in the health-care system,” she said.

“Between now and the fall of 2023, we fully expect to be involved in the implementation of these security measures and look forward to working together with the government to improve conditions for nurses, patients and all health-care workers.”

Grewal says the stress and fear at work has been compounded due to staffing shortages as people lash out at nurses for everything from long wait-lists to cancelled surgeries.

Dix adds that since the summer of 2021, there have been over 4,400 reported incidents of violence, resulting in about $7 million in employee time-loss claims, though noting the impact on workers can’t be quantified in dollars.

– With files from The Canadian Press