Attacks on front-line health-care workers on the rise: CUPE poll

A new poll suggests violent attacks against health-care workers in Ontario’s hospitals are becoming more frequent.

Nearly 70 per cent of the nearly 2,000 direct care staff surveyed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) hospital division (the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions), said they have experienced at least one type of physical violence in the past year.

Another 42 per cent said they had been targets of sexual harassment or assault. Of the 1,976 members polled, 1,568 were women working in hospitals in seven communities.

“About 44 per cent of the people we talked to said that they were afraid to report the violence because of fear of reprisal,” said OCHU president Michael Hurley.

“What this suggests is a climate of widespread violence against hospital staff.”

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In Peterborough on Tuesday, CUPE held a press conference to announce the poll results while highlighting the case of Scott Sharp, a personal support worker who was attacked by a patient at Guelph General Hospital almost three years ago.

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The assault damaged his spine and left him requiring a walker.

“As I fell to the floor, the bottom part of my back hit the floor and my head went through a steel rack and into a wall,” said Sharp.

He recalls a difficult conversation he had with his four kids when the family temporarily lost their home because of rising care costs.

“An injury is one thing thing but when you have children involved and they ask you why they’re leaving their home you get a sense of failure,” he said. “A sense of failure — it hurt more than my spine.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "An injury is one thing thing but when you have children involved and they ask you why they're leaving their home you get a sense of failure," he said. "A sense of failure — it hurt more than my spine."

Hurley points to a number of reasons for the survey results such as a hike in illegal drug use by patients and a withdrawal of support for those suffering from mental health issues.

“Someone could come into the ER intoxicated or on drugs and punch a nurse or a health-care worker in the face and it’s deemed acceptable,” said Hurley. “If I get behind the wheel intoxicated, there’s consequences.”

OCHU wants amendments to the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Public Hospitals Act to better protect hospital staff.

“We’re asking the provincial government to put into legislation protection for people so they can report violence freely and so they can speak up about it,” said Hurley.

“And we’re going to ask the federal government to amend the Canadian Criminal Code as they’ve done for transit workers to make it a more serious offence if you assault a health-care worker.”