Conversations With The CEO

There is no rest in healthcare. There are no holidays. And for people in healthcare, the work of SWITCH BC and its partners to improve occupational health and safety cannot come soon enough.

The 2023-2024 Annual Report showcases progress in various areas of work, with a strong focus on all the ways we engaged with people throughout the year to move that project work forward.

You can learn more about the Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum Refresh, OHS Resource Centre, Community Physician Health and Safety Program, and Psychological Health and Safety in the report. We outline the why of our work through trends in mental and physical injury in healthcare, as well as highlight our engagement efforts through events, social media, and website metrics.

Join Thought Architects and SWITCH BC CEO Victoria Schmid for a conversation about the need for psychological safety as a leadership skill – especially in the face of moral injury. Victoria's experience, while rooted in healthcare, highlights the need for a different kind of leadership in today’s world. A "Campfire Chat - Psychological Safety: A Leadership Skill" is Jan. 26, 11 a.m.- 12 p.m. (PST).

You can RSVP for this online event here.

Health care workers have the right to be safe at work, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case. People working in healthcare are facing verbal and physical violence on the job. Fifty-nine percent of all violence-related time-loss claims in B.C. come from people working in healthcare and social services (WorkSafeBC) and a recent poll by the Hospital Employees’ Union found that 82% of healthcare aides/assistances face violence at work (HEU, 2023). With physical and verbal violence happening in the workplace, ensuring people have the training they need to stay safe is more important than ever.

That’s why SWITCH BC, with its partners that include unions, employers, physicians, WorkSafeBC, and the Ministry of Health, is updating the Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum (PVPC) to provide an accessible provincewide program for the more than 300,000 people working in healthcare. As part of that work, we hosted engagement opportunities throughout the province to hear directly from the people who benefit from this training.

We are grateful for the people working in healthcare throughout B.C. who took the time to participate in the PVPC needs analysis engagement opportunities. This work would not have been possible without the support of the facilitators from our partner organizations – unions, employers, and physicians – who helped with sessions and the location hosts who made it possible to have in-person focus groups and drop-in sessions throughout the province.

We know people working in healthcare have demanding schedules, and we value your time. Thank you.

Read the Report

Statement from Victoria Schmid, SWITCH BC CEO

I am pleased to announce Georgina Hackett and John Fitzgerald will be seconded (from their home organizations who are represented on our Board of Directors) to SWITCH BC for up to 12 months. I am excited to be supported by two experienced and collaborative occupational health and safety (OHS) leaders who will further strengthen the commitment of unions, employers, and physicians to a sectoral approach to improving health and safety and supporting the goals of SWITCH BC.

Georgina Hackett is the Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU).

John Fitzgerald is the Executive Director, Health, Wellness, Safety and Ability Management, Island Health.

Georgina and John have been serving on SWITCH BC’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) since its inception in April 2022, and will now serve as co-chairs of TAC.

With the ratification of all health care union contracts, there is certainty for people working in healthcare for the next two years. All six of the unions that are key pillars of our organization have (or will soon have) new collective agreements and all of those agreements have investments in workplace health and safety – the kind of work SWITCH BC was created to support provincewide.

As we come out of the period of significant stressors and unknowns, it is especially exciting to see the new collective agreements recognize how vital people working in healthcare are – to our health, our families’ health, and our communities.

SWITCH BC is honoured to be included in collective agreements, and to have the support of health care unions, employers, and the Ministry of Health. There is a great deal of work to do collectively in the system to reduce injury rates in healthcare, now twice the provincial average, to reduce violence in the workplace where health care teams are four times more likely to face violence than a police officer in B.C., and to better support psychological safety in healthcare workplaces. We have 300,000+ excellent reasons to do that work for the 300,000+ people working in healthcare.

Congratulations to all parties who negotiated these deals; that work is incredibly challenging. Collaboration is key to creating positive change in the sector whether that’s at the bargaining table or in a busy emergency department. People power healthcare.

We have the will – unions, employers, and physicians all working together at SWITCH BC. Let’s keep finding the ways to improve occupational health and safety.

Please take some time to look over the collective agreements that can be found Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC)

B.C.’s refreshed Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum will update mandatory training for people working in healthcare to reflect current and diverse work environments, grounded firmly in cultural humility, diversity, trauma-informed understanding, and other best practices. It will also provide one provincewide program with expanded access to public and private care staff, physicians, nurses, contractors, security personnel and students.

Learn more in this article from Canadian Security magazine. SWITCH BC CEO Victoria Schmid and a B.C. paramedic share insights into the work and the need. Check out a further interview featuring Victoria Schmid at the Focus on Healthcare Security Summit 2022.

Message from Victoria Schmid, SWITCH BC CEO

I am looking forward to 2023 with hope and cautious optimism. We are saying goodbye to yet another year when the COVID-19 pandemic took a disproportionate toll on health care teams. It’s the admiration and awe I have for the tremendous work done by the hard working, caring people in the healthcare system that helps carry my hope for the future.

There are signals of stability ahead in the sector with the signing of labour agreements between the Province and some of B.C.’s largest healthcare unions and the inking of a new contract with physicians (Physicians Masters Agreement).

The Ministry of Health has started to implement the B.C. Health Human Resource Strategy to support and increase the number of people providing care across the province. The actions are many, including increased protection for workers, increased access to training, recognizing international credentials, and scaling up virtual care.

Violence in healthcare – a problem few people are aware of the magnitude of – is getting much-needed attention. SWITCH BC is beginning the work of updating the Provincial Violence Prevention Curriculum. The program we are designing, with input from unions, employers, and physicians, will be tailored to specific kinds of healthcare work environments and will be built using trauma-informed principles and with a lens that is culturally safe. The training will be real to life for our teams and based on best and promising practice. Everyone working in health care has the right to be safe and healthy on the job and to return home safely to family and friends. Improved training will help support safety across the healthcare system and we invite you to have Your Say by sharing your ideas and feedback on the training update.

We will also be listening to health care teams in 2023 – traveling around the province and meeting with people to hear about their experiences over the last few years. We will be listening to acknowledge the multiple sacrifices our teams have made, and continue to make, in support of providing care, and to spark healing, hope, and system renewal. We can’t keep asking people to do their best when the system around them doesn’t always support quality care and safety. These conversations will inform all the work we do because we know that the best solutions are ones that are informed by the people doing the work.

I recognize that our healthcare challenges can feel overwhelming and that we have a lot to do in 2023 to create safe work environments where people can thrive. I know that we are also up to the challenge – because I know the amazing things the people who work daily in the healthcare system of capable of. We will tackle these challenges together. We do so knowing there is so much to be proud of in the passion and ingenuity and dedication of our health care workers. Health care teams continue to save and improve the lives of British Columbians every day.

We see your dedication and compassionate care, and we thank you.

Victoria Schmid
SWITCH BC, CEO