Doctors, residents leave St. Joseph´s Healthcare psych ER in Hamilton over safety concerns
(The Star Food)

Three psychiatrists resigned from St. Joseph’s Healthcare this week because they believe working conditions in the psychiatric emergency room are unsafe.The doctors quit at the same time that McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences is pulling its psychiatric residents from St. Joe’s psychiatric ER for the same reason.The drastic measures come years after the safety problems were first flagged by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. The college has repeatedly said St. Joe’s must make a number of changes to the psych ER at the site on Charlton Ave. E. (Charlton Campus) for it to be safe for residents to work there.This raises serious concerns about the impact these departures will have on the level of care available to mentally ill patients in our community, which is frequently talked about as being underserviced.However, Peter Bieling, head of mental health and addiction services at St. Joe’s, says patient care will be “unaffected� by the loss of residents and doctors.The psychiatric ER sees some of the most volatile mental health patients in the city. This is where police bring people when they have been involuntarily “formed� and are at risk of doing harm to themselves or others.Dr. Nick Kates, chair of the department of psychiatry at McMaster University, has told the Spectator that one of the many issues impacting safety is the spike of crystal meth patients, who are often violent. Those patients need to be kept in the ER longer while they come down from their high and can be properly assessed — which can cause a backlog.He added that many of the problems experienced at St. Joe’s are reflected in psychiatric ERs across the country.On April 1, Mac’s postgraduate education committee informed St. Joe’s it unanimously agreed to withdraw its residents as of Friday at 5 p.m.On April 7, Kates sent an email to all physicians in his department.He wrote that the withdrawal of the reside ...