Mixed reaction from patients over ‘toxic’ Nanaimo hospital

In the wake of a scathing report that says Nanaimo Regional General Hospital has created a toxic workplace, some say it’s not much better for patients.

Qualicum Beach resident Cathryn Bolton said she wishes Health Minister Adrian Dix luck in his promise to fix the problems after a survey of 473 staff by Vector Group, released last week, described the organizational culture at NRGH as “toxic.”

The document said that fear, suspicion and loathing predominate the staff’s thinking about administration and that it’s past the “tipping point,” but fixable.

Bolton’s husband, Richard, 87, who died in June, had been in and out of NRGH for the past six years. Before that, he had a stroke in 1993 and open-heart surgery in 2004.

Bolton said her only solace now, after losing her husband of 54 years, is that she won’t have to deal further with Island Health. Staff at the Nanaimo hospital aren’t engaged or are too constrained by budgets to give high-quality care, she said.

“It seems like a trickle-down situation,” Bolton said. “Staff in fear of administration; patients’ families in fear of staff.”

Bolton said she’s met many fine medical staff, but that the majority of her interactions and experiences have been negative.

One of Bolton’s last experiences with NRGH was her husband’s stay from March 4 to May 13.

When he was admitted, he was walking with a cane, but after 10 weeks either in bed or in a tilted recliner chair, he lost all strength in his legs, she said.

“I begged and pleaded for him to have some physiotherapy,” Bolton said. “I was told repeatedly that only acute-care patients were provided with physio, as that was all that the funding would allow.”

If the issue truly was budgetary, health-care dollars are being misspent, she said. “A hospital is supposed to be a place where you heal, not a place you lie and deteriorate.”

Her husband also had to have part of a gangrenous heel cut away after a bed sore became infected, she said.

“He always came out of the hospital worse than when he came in — I’m not kidding,” said Bolton, 77.

Island Health Central and North Island spokeswoman Adrienne Breen said the health authority is always concerned when a patient feels they did not have a good care experience and encourages them to contact its patient care quality office.

“We take all patient care concerns extremely seriously and we follow up and respond to every concern,” said Breen.

On another visit in January, Bolton said that when her husband was discharged, he was seriously dehydrated. She said she mentioned the hydration issue to nurses. His water was kept on a window ledge that he couldn’t access due to his lack of mobility, she said.

“Is it any wonder that staff members recommend that friends and family members do not to go to NRGH,” said Bolton, referring to the Vector Group report that said “numerous people in several parts of the hospital volunteered that they’ve instructed their friends/families to take them elsewhere [the mainland] for care, if they get sick.”

Lavern Hillier, however, said that her recent visit to NRGH’s emergency department after a break in the bone below an ankle, was professional “high-level care.”

“Whatever drama is going on in behind the scenes did not impact me, the patient,” she said. A cast was put on her break and her heart was checked.

“Since 2011, my husband and I have had numerous trips to the ER and hospital,” Hillier said. “We have had excellent service and care.”

The Vector Group report also touched on the controversy raised by the IHealth electronic records system. The $174-million, paperless health-records system was launched in March 2016 at NRGH and other facilities.

Bolton said the new reality at NRGH is that nurses are stuck on computers, while “actual bedside nursing is mostly done by the care-aids.”

The computer system quickly incurred a backlash from some doctors, who said it caused dangerous dosage errors and took time away from patient care. The results of an independent review ordered by Health Minister Adrian Dix are expected at the end of this month.

Bolton said her husband fell victim to one of the reported early glitches with the system.

“He was actually there in March 2016 when the paperless health-record program was launched,” Bolton said.

She recalled that his nurse was in tears one day as she said, “this is the first time in my nursing career that I missed a patient’s medication [because the system had omitted it].”

In response to the Vector Group report last week, Damian Lange, the hospital’s director of clinical operations, said patients are getting safe and quality care.

The report confirmed concerns already raised, he said, and has given the health authority the foundation it needs to make important changes going forward for higherquality patient-centred care.

Bolton cited Lange as the one official who listened to her concerns and confirmed improvement was needed.