The six-bed psychiatric ward at St. Mary's Hospital is still closed while interviews for new nurses at the unit are underway this week.
"We need to fill three positions. We sent out an internal posting and got one applicant internally," said Paul Charron, director of adult mental health and addictions on the Sunshine Coast. "Now, as per union rules, we're posting externally, but it will probably take until the end of April to have the unit fully staffed and running again." The closure of the ward last month meant patients had to be cared for in a makeshift ward on the hospital's main floor. Nursing staff there were stretched to deliver care needed.
That plan is still in place as Charron interviews new nursing candidates this month. Powell River - Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons says it's not good enough.
"Staff need to be supported and given the resources they need to keep the facility open," Simons noted.
Last Monday in the legislature, Simons asked Health Minister George Abbott to help reopen the psychiatric unit in Sechelt.
During question period, Simons cited personal stories told to him of patients being moved out of the unit with little notice and one patient's release to a local hostel that ended with the family searching for the patient on the streets of Vancouver.
Simons asked, "How does sending psychiatric patients to a hostel and a day surgery waiting room constitute health care when and where people need it?"
Charron couldn't comment on specific patient cases but said plans were put in place for patients when the unit closed due to staffing shortages.
"When we closed the unit, all the patients were released with the consent of their physician and psychiatrist, and they all had plans in place for where to go next," he said.
Simons is upset at the displacement of mental health patients and he wants assurances the same situation will not reoccur months from now.
"I think the mental health service should be no different from any other health service. No one would put up with the emergency ward closing. I believe mental health is as important and should be given a central role. This closure needs to be taken really seriously," Simons said.
Charron says there are no guarantees at this point that, once reopened, the mental health ward will not experience another closure.
"Vancouver Coastal Health gave us one more full-time position and we created two half-time positions, so we should have two nurses on at any one time. That should help, but the real key is casual workers," Charron said.
"We need more casual workers because there is nothing saying our permanent workers won't all get sick or need leave at the same time again."Simons plans to continue keeping the minister of health abreast of developments on the Coast. He asked for more funding to ensure proper mental health care at St. Mary's Hospital.
