Health workers quit over security fears as police push back on mental health

Senior nurses who are specially licensed to assess and treat mental health patients have put an end to security fears.

They are worried about police backtracking on mental health screenings, and changes to hospital procedures, which come into force from Monday.

New Zealand mental health and addictions medical director Murray Patton said the safety of staff and patients was the most important consideration.

Police will visit first to make sure the staff is able to accommodate someone with mental health issues, Patton said.

“The police have assured us that they are not going to leave the emergency department, they are not going to leave anyone there, before they do a final check… that things are safe, it’s okay for them to go,” he said. . .

“We didn’t expect employees to put themselves at risk. We didn’t want employees to get into situations where they thought there might be some element of danger,” Patton said.

He said the police are still expected to help in situations where workers feel unsafe.

At the same time, 90 percent of mental health workers in two new agency surveys said the changes would make them and their patients less safe.

Public hospitals and clinics from Monday were changing their ways to deal with officers who are willing to spend less time in the ED, transport and callouts.

Police have said for months they have to reduce the time officers spend on non-urgent mental health services, as crime-fighting duties continue to be squeezed.

About half a dozen nurses had resigned from their jobs as duly authorized officers (DAOs) in response.

“This decision was made on an individual basis and was a personal decision for each DAO based on their concerns about health and safety issues that may arise from November 1, ” they said.

“This was not a hasty or reactive decision, it was made after consideration of the available information, an understanding of the current risks involved in mental health work as a DAO, and the risks there may be in the future.”

It was not clear to which hospitals the nurses who are continuing their regular duties are based.

They said they discussed this situation with their families and close relationships first, then met in mid-September to discuss them.

DAOs have specific responsibilities under the Mental Health Act, such as providing advice on mental health services and how the law works, and helping to assess people.

In a new survey by the Nurses’ Association, and in a separate survey* of mental health workers by the PSA, 90 percent of mental health nurses said that police resignations would lead to neither they nor their patients are safe.

To the statement, “The coming changes could increase the risks of increase”, 60 percent of nurses strongly agreed and another 30 percent agreed, in the NZNO survey.

Earlier, Health NZ told RNZ the three new interventions being introduced today include “low-risk” voluntary patient interactions; from March, some changes would be extended to apply occasionally to disturbed or violent people incarcerated.

The nurses who left their DAO roles said: “We work in a field where, in part, we educate our clients about health and safety, risk management and making informed decisions.

“We believe that this is what is happening in this situation – we as DAOs have made an informed decision after thinking about what is important to us and that is our continued health and safety in our work .”

Greg Davies, DAO at Wairau Hospital in Marlborough, who hasn’t quit, said he hadn’t heard of those having them, but he wasn’t surprised.

“I think they will [quit]yes, the tip of the iceberg.”

In Wairau, their mental health center used to go down to seven mental health nurses, but there were XNUMX, he said.

“I think we’re going to lose staff because of this, they’re under a lot of pressure.”

Staff who have already done full shifts will have to cover after-hours calls, and have little police cover when transporting patients from Blenheim – across “the two mountains” – to be admitted to the Hospital of Nelson, Davies said.

He and his colleagues saw the new process in the past few days.

Davies said A place to check the changes were based on ‘thoughts’.

“There has been a lack of consultation with staff…it seems to be urgent.

“We have a good working relationship with the police at the moment and generally only call them when we need to.

“This process will slow us down in our work,” he said.

“We have two people waiting overnight. If we are slow to operate and it takes us eight hours instead of six hours to receive someone in Nelson at night, we will not they are there to do something else.”

As recently as Friday, Health NZ was advising staff of “urgent” changes being made in the wake of three new operating procedures.

The PSA said it asked Health NZ to stop but was refused.

Only 13 percent of respondents to its survey expressed confidence that their workplace is able to manage risks under the changes.

“Mental health professionals are loud and clear that the transition process is very unsafe and that the risks of serious harm to them, the people in their care and the public are very high,” said PSA health leader Ashok Chankar.

The new procedures emphasized that employees still have to call the police if there is violence, or an immediate danger to life or safety, or a crime has occurred.

“We will be closely monitoring how the first phase of the transition progresses to ensure our planning for the next phases is correct,” Health NZ told RNZ in a statement on Wednesday.

Health NZ says staff safety is a priority

Health NZ said it had only heard of a small number of DAOs withdrawing, so could not provide details.

“It is also not clear whether there is this possible resignation from the official duty (Duly Authorized Officer) only or their important role,” it said.

It did not know the total number of DAOs it owned.

It said worker safety and health were top priorities among the new changes.

“We want to accept that changes like this can be difficult, and we recognize that there will be time to adjust,” Health NZ executive director of mental health and addiction specialist Karla Bergquist said in a statement on Friday.

New ways of working gave employees the opportunity to feed back on what worked and what didn’t.

Police and Life NZ plan to review this towards the end of November.

The police said in a statement that ensuring people “receive the care they deserve from the right professionals when they need it” was at the heart of the changes.

“We are committed to working together to provide the best possible services for those with mental health problems, which will require reviewing processes and re-evaluating processes as we go along. first, to get the best results for all involved.”

* The PSA survey ran from October 8-22 and was sent to 6151 members, with 438 responses. The margin of error was 5 percent.