B.C.’s health minister says a task force will determine one set of rules around illicit drug use and weapons in hospitals to eliminate any ambiguity among health-authority policies in the province.
“The reality is on any given day we have hundreds of people in our hospitals who face severe addiction issues and so as a practical matter we want to ensure everyone knows what the rules are everywhere — meaning patients, meaning staff, meaning everyone else,” said Adrian Dix.
The direction comes after a Northern Health memo was leaked last week directing hospital staff not to search or seize patients’ drugs or weapons with blades less than four inches long, or restrict visitors who bring to patients drugs for personal use.
The B.C. Nurses’ Union has said prohibitions against smoking in hospitals are not being enforced.
A Victoria General Hospital nurse said last week that nurses have seen habitual illicit drug use by patients in hospitals, putting nurses at risk. A Campbell River nurse reported being exposed to street drugs in hospital on six occasions.
“There are some differences between the policies in different health authorities and that’s why I’ve put in place a task force to ensure we have one policy across B.C. with respect to people using illicit drugs in hospitals,” Dix said Monday.
Dix said he expects consistent practices across all hospitals. With respect to drug use by patients, there will be designated places within or around the facility or under the specific direction of the care team, he said.
B.C. Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear said in a phone interview Monday that the union believes strongly in harm reduction and caring for all patients, but that policies around decriminalization and harm reduction in hospitals should have been rolled out with all the “checks and balances in place — and it’s missing some.”
Gear said there need to be appropriate safe spaces, and enough staff, education and training.
“And you need to support staff that are struggling with this and that are raising safety concerns and that’s not what [some] nurses experience,” she said.
“The narrative needs to be how do we keep everybody safe?”
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