Strenuous work days for Surrey prison nurses who are understaffed

Nurses at Surrey Prison where people are detained pending trial work at a staffing level dangerous, compromising their safety Postmedia learned last week at the Surrey Abortion Prison, where nurses had been ordered to provide "priority drugs" to inmates because of staff illness, this which has increased their ability to provide patient care. tensions within the institution.

Christine Sorensen, President of British Columbia The Union of Nurses highlighted the particular difficulties that arose in Surrey Prison due to inadequate staffing.

"We are already seeing nurses verbally abused every day because they can not do their job," Sorensen said. "It will only be a matter of time before someone is physically badaulted and hurt."

Two prisoners at the prison told Postmedia a restless atmosphere, as many did not take their painkillers or antipsychotics on June 26 and 27. the case leading to a brawl between inmates and a yellow code – used when a correctional officer needs help.

Andrew MacFarlane, director of the Correctional Service of the Provincial Administration of Health Services, said that medication management is taken very seriously. This was an unfortunate situation that correctional health services managed to manage by recruiting additional staff (Surrey Pre-Trial) and another site, including new positions in nursing created by the Provincial Health Services Authority, MacFarlane said in a statement.

But the health authority later confirmed that there have been two other medical interruptions since they badumed responsibility for health care in the facility, l & # 39; one in June and the other in January

"The situation is very worrying". . "The nurses there work up to 17 hours a day for three consecutive days, when their planned rotation provides for 10-hour shifts. […] You can only imagine how exhausted you would be if you extend your shift for almost any other day of work.

The union says that since October 2017, there have been several vacancies for nurses. But these are mostly part-time jobs that are considered difficult to recruit because of the high cost of living in the Lower Mainland.

Surrey has an average of 400 to 500 inmates and currently employs 21 full-time and part-time. nurses, with five to six casuals. These nurses told their union that they would need 10 additional nurses to reach basic staffing levels for proper patient care.

Provincial campaign focused on BC staff awareness of staffing and violence 83% of nurses from across the province say that their workload is either a major problem or a problem.

The union confirmed that a significant number of overwork and stress issues were raised by nurses in Surrey prior to the trial. 19659004] "Morale on the site is very, very low." Working in a correctional facility where many patients may have mental health issues or a history of violence already poses a more complex set of challenges for nurses, she said. Sorensen., Director of the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia

"If nurses also have to work long hours, this puts the emphasis on the work. And they are going to be at greater risk of burnout just because you are dealing with long hours and intense situations, "said Saewyc." When nurses feel that they can not provide the care that they need. they know because they do not have enough time or resources, this creates moral distress. "

The provincial health authority took responsibility for the health care of prisoners in Octobe e 2017 Chiron Health Services, a private company

Nurses said they had discussions with the health authority about changing job vacancies to full-time positions to make recruitment more successful [19659004] We need a sustainable recruitment and retention strategy that will restore staffing levels, reduce the cost of turnarounds and allow nurses to provide safe care to patients, "said Sorensen. "This problem is repairable."