Hospital ‘not safe to work in’
Mental health nurse Josie Butler used to go to work in an inpatient unit at Christchurch’s Hillmorton Hospital grinning from ear to ear. Now, she feels fear and dread walking onto the ward.
The experienced registered nurse, accompanied by her mother, Clare, made an impassioned speech directly to Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) members at a meeting yesterday.
‘‘Years of neglect have resulted in the current crisis that we are now facing. People cannot, and should not, work here because of how unsafe it is,’’ she told board members.
It comes after a series of serious incidents at the hospital, specifically in the acute adult inpatient unit, Te Awakura. In the space of a week, a nurse suffered serious burns after a patient threw boiling water over her and another was stabbed.
‘‘Every day I hear nurses say somebody is going to die before anything changes,’’ Butler said. ‘‘The reason I am here today is if one of my colleagues dies, I would like to know that I did everything I could to try and prevent that from happening. Can you say the same?’’
The CDHB has condemned the recent attacks and created an additional two security roles in Te Awakura. The security presence is an interim measure while a new, alternative work force is built up. It is also working with the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) to improve safety in the unit. Last week, CDHB chief executive David Meates called the recent assaults sickening. WorkSafe assessment inspectors will visit the hospital on Monday.
Butler has seven years’ experience as a registered nurse, including five years in the inpatient setting. She now works in a community team, but had been doing one day a week in acute until the latest spate of assaults. When she first started, Butler said she loved her job and being able to help people ‘‘through potentially the most difficult time in their lives’’. She used to go into work grinning from ear to ear, ‘‘and some days I would literally skip into work’’.
‘‘Now when I walk onto the ward I feel fear and dread,’’ she told the board. ‘‘I feel anguish and grief for my colleagues who work there permanently, and often have tears in my eyes as they recount the horrific events they have to face on a daily basis.’’
Her mother, Clare Butler, told the board she worried every day her daughter went to work that she might be assaulted. She said the situation at Hillmorton was critical.
Josie Butler said the board was made up of exceptional people who were prepared to fight for the underdog and do what was right.
‘‘And that is all I am asking of you today,’’ she said.
Board members thanked Butler and her mother for speaking, and for their courage in doing so. ‘‘What you’ve given us is a sense of immediacy,’’ CDHB member David Morrell said.
CDHB management have emphasised there is no single fix for the problems at Hillmorton. Facilities are old and not fit-for-purpose, while demand for mental health services is significantly up on pre-quake levels.
Meates said at the meeting the board had discussed service failure for years. ‘‘This is what it looks and feels like,’’ he said, in reference to the pressures mental health services are under. However, management have also been at pains to point out the risk of stigmatising patients. Executive director of nursing Mary Gordon said at the time of the recent assaults there were up to 88 people under care in the 64-bed unit.
‘‘It was overcrowded, and it was a couple of patients. The majority of patients are not like this.’’