Person posing as health-care worker worked several shifts at Winnipeg hospital
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is advising the public that an unauthorized person posing as a health-care worker worked several shifts at St. Boniface Hospital earlier this month.
The WRHA noted the person worked shifts as an uncertified health-care aide (UHCA) between July 2 and 17.
The health authority and St. Boniface Hospital are investigating how this happened and have confirmed the person registered for, but didn’t complete, the UHCA program offered through the Shared Health Provincial Recruitment and Redevelopment Team. This is a seven-day training course and teaches skills to UHCAs, who are then sent to sites across the province;
"The person started, but didn’t complete this course, and was not eligible to be deployed to any site," the WRHA said.
The person called the St. Boniface Hospital staffing office and presented themselves as a newly hired UHCA, with knowledge of the training and hiring process. The WRHA said there was a gap in the confirmation of the person’s employment status, which allowed them to be scheduled for a shift at the hospital. Immediately after this shift, they were told they were not eligible to work.
The individual continued to present to St. Boniface Hospital in person and bypassed the staffing office, according to the WRHA. they said noted this person had a vast knowledge of the hospital, its units and managers, and using this knowledge, was able to present themselves at screening and security as an employee and was admitted on several occasions.
The person worked as many as eight shifts, including in the emergency department. They performed tasks such as retrieving supplies, and directing and bringing patients to rooms. They did not have access to controlled medications and they were also in the vicinity of professional health-care staff at all times;
During one shift, staff members identified this person, who was then barred from the hospital, and police were notified. Officers have spoken to this person and determined no ill will was intended. No further action is anticipated.
The WRHA noted this incident is “highly unusual and isolated,” but still troubling.
St. Boniface Hospital has made sure all employees are aware of the situation, emphasizing that staff IDs always need to be visible and presented when they enter the facility.
The WRHA is making sure all health-care sites in Winnipeg know about this incident and the requirements related to staff identification. The health authority reminds staff and patients that they have the right to ask to see the formal identification of a health-care worker.
The WRHA is also working with St. Boniface Hospital to finish the investigation and identify the gaps in policy, process, and practice. Corrective measures have been and will continue to be put in place.
St. Boniface Hospital “deeply regrets” the situation and apologizes to patients and staff. Anyone with concerns can contact the hospital’s patient relations office at 204-237-2306.
The province said Health Minister Heather Stefanson has been made aware of what happened.
“Minister Stefanson was informed of the highly unusual and isolated incident at St. Boniface hospital and was assured by the WRHA that security measures were implemented to prevent incidents like this in the future,” a government spokesperson told CTV News
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
A child killer legally changed his name in B.C. The province is trying to stop that from happening again
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, U.S. officials warn
U.S. officials worry the next recession could be intensified by a cascading series of failures in the mortgage industry caused by crashing home prices, frozen financial markets and soaring delinquencies.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.