Fatality report suggests fixes for psych ward

By Gillian Slade on August 19, 2017.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

A report following an inquiry into the death of a local man in 2013, while he was in Medicine Hat Regional Hospital’s psychiatric ward, has been made public.

There are nine recommendations including the need for fatality inquiries to be held within two years of a death. It took four years for the inquiry after the death of Glenn Piche.

The report calls for all rooms within the psychiatric unit at the hospital to have video cameras, whether they are seclusion rooms or not. The report says the safety of patients is more important than any privacy issues that might be argued.

Three previous fatality inquiries in Alberta have called for video surveillance in all psychiatric ward rooms.

Alberta Health Services has initiated a response to the recommendations but it will be a number of weeks before details are available.

A group is being pulled together to go through the recommendations in detail, said Katherine Chubbs, chief zone officer AHS south zone on Friday.

“From there with the patient safety lens of course we’re going to reach recommendation,” said Chubbs promising “fresh eyes” to determine what can be done to make safety as good as it can be.

It will take a week or two to have the group in place and then a few months to look at the recommendations, said Chubbs. They will be broken down into separate initiatives.

“My hope is by Christmas we will certainly have a good handle of the recommendations … by the end of the year for sure,” said Chubbs.

Piche was admitted to hospital in June 2013 after family members expressed concern about him considering ending his life. The inquiry heard from medical staff who said he did not appear suicidal and he was not placed in one of the rooms where there was a video camera. On June 20, he was found in medical distress after attempting to take his own life. He was revived but died within days.

The feasibility of cameras in every room was not something Chubbs wanted to comment on at this stage. She said each recommendation will pertain to different aspects of care and will involved a range of people.

The inquiry brought to light the need for easy access to a patient’s records and recommends that all records at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital be electronic and that older records, stored off site, be provided as quickly as “reasonably possible”.

The News was not able to reach family members of Piche for comment on Friday.