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Nurses Union, B.C. Government Invest Millions To Prevent Health-Care Assaults

The Canadian Press, 06 Aug, 2015 11:44 AM

VANCOUVER — A string of assaults against health care workers has prompted the B.C. Nurses' Union and the provincial government to invest $2 million in violence prevention at four high-risk hospitals.

Health Minister Terry Lake and union president Gayle Duteil announced today that the province and union will each contribute $1 million, after months of working together on a plan to tackle the chronic issue.

The four sites to receive funding are the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam, Hillside Centre in Kamloops, Seven Oaks Tertiary Mental Health in Victoria and Abbotsford Regional Hospital.

Depending on the site, upgrades over the next few months may include new distress button and communication systems, increasing staffing levels and improving mental-health education and training.

Duteil says 12 priority sites have been chosen and she hopes to move quickly to improve conditions at eight other hospitals, but no timeline has been provided.

She says a nurse who was seriously assaulted at Hillside Centre in April has returned to work, but a nurse who was badly beaten in Abbotsford Regional Hospital in March is still recovering.

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