New evidence suggests lingering pandemic-related tension and ongoing staffing shortages are fueling physical violence, sexual assaults and racially motivated attacks against the province’s predominantly female health-care workforce, union leaders say.
New evidence suggests lingering pandemic-related tension and ongoing staffing shortages are fueling physical violence, sexual assaults and racially motivated attacks against the province’s predominantly female health-care workforce, union leaders say.
Urged by reports of increasingly toxic working conditions as Ontario’s health-care system struggles to find and retain staff, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) recently commissioned a of more than 2,300 registered practical nurses, personal support workers and others on the front lines . The results – gradually being discussed at press conferences across the province this month – are “alarming,” said Sharon Richer, the secretary-treasurer of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
“Staff (members) are working alone in circumstances where they are very vulnerable to assaults,” Richer said. “Mental-health programs and supports within the community have been cut back over the years. The (pandemic) has made these issues worse, but hospitals and long-term care administrators do not seem to want to prioritize the safety of the staff.”
The survey – conducted by Oracle Research on behalf of CUPE May 17-24 – found that 63 per cent of respondents had recently experienced physical violence at work. More than half of respondents, meanwhile, reported an increase in violence targeting them or a co-worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey also found that 71 per cent of respondents who identified as racialized had experienced harassment or abuse specifically related to their race or appearance. Among respondents in all categories, 49 per cent said they’d experienced sexual harassment and 36 per percent said they’d experienced sexual assault.
CUPE has been conducting surveys of its members for roughly 10 years. The new survey included for the first time questions about the use of guns or knives against staff, and 18 per cent of respondents reported an increase in incidents involving those weapons.
The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus two per cent, 19 times out of 20.
According to CUPE, about 85 per cent of the 247,000 Ontarians who work in the province’s hospitals are women.
“The sobering reality is that hospitals are increasingly toxic and dangerous workplaces where women are beaten, sexually assaulted and racially attacked by the hundreds every single day,” Richer said.
Dave Verch, an Ottawa-based registered practical nurse and CUPE executive, said health-care workers have “absolutely” seen a rise in violence during the pandemic, during which service disruptions and staff shortages at Ontario hospitals have caused frustration for patients and caregivers over the past two years in particular.
“Health-care workers are front and centre, and we generally take the brunt of that frustration,” Verch said. “If we’re looking for an explanation as to why people are leaving health care and why hospitals have so many vacancies in all occupations, at least part of the answer can be found in this survey.”
Richer and Verch have recently been traveling to locations across the province to reveal more local data. They were in Stratford on Thursday to discuss responses from the 178 CUPE members who participated in the survey from Stratford and Guelph.
The picture is similar – 55 per cent of respondents said they’ve experienced sexual harassment and 44 per cent said they’ve experienced sexual assault. Nearly 30 per cent of respondents identified as racialized and about 75 per cent of those participants reported harassment or abuse directly related to their race or appearance.
The smaller sample size in Stratford and Guelph does have a larger margin for error: plus or minus seven per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Andrew Williams, the chief executive at the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance, acknowledged Thursday that the organization’s hospitals in Stratford, Clinton and Seaforth have seen an increase in aggressive patients and caregivers. However he pushed back against the union’s characterization of the issue in Huron and Perth counties.
“It creates a view that the safety and the protocols that we have are non-existent and I can assure you that is not the case at all,” Williams said. “We have regular meetings with … all of our unions. This issue has not been raised by them at all.”
The local hospital group has added security guards at its hospitals to help with screening and is always looking for ways to increase the safety of its staff, Williams said.
“As an organization we take this very seriously,” he said. “We certainly have taken steps to try and address the challenges that we’ve been facing.”
Richer said she’s made the province aware of the survey’s results and is urgent government officials to make progress in three areas: zero tolerance policies that have more teeth, less red tape around WSIB claims from health-care workers, and whistleblower protection for nurses, personal support workers, and others who speak up about working conditions.
“There is a level of violence going on that the premier, health minister and the hospitals can no longer ignore,” she said. “They must act to stop this.”