"This is a very, very challenging period in health care."
Those words were spoken by B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, who told reporters in a press briefing on Tuesday (Nov. 9) that more needs to be done to improve safety for health-care workers in the province in the wake of assaults.
Dix added that health officials continue to work with the British Columbia Nurses' Union (BCNU), the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia, and Doctors of BC to improve conditions in health-care settings.
"It's a high priority for us," he said.
In regard to recent assaults on front-line workers, the health minister noted that "it obviously affects both the morale and the sense of personal security of our staff across the system," adding that more will be done to improve security.
"It's our strong intention to do that," he remarked. "And it's a necessary thing in order to support workers and to ensure that our health-care settings are safe for workers [and] safe for patients in long-term care and assisted living."
That being said, the "vast majority" of British Columbians support health-care workers, Dix underscored.
Just over 3,000 health-care workers not vaccinated against COVID-19 remain on unpaid leave in B.C. amid a provincewide mandate.
In September, B.C. health-care workers took to social media to express frustration after droves of people protested in front of hospitals in response to the province's coronavirus public health orders.
Read what a local doctor and some health-care workers had to say about the demonstration.
With files from Tyler Orton
