Facing reports of nurses being routinely abused by patients, the Ontario government announced last week that it has created a roundtable to address the growing problem.

The group, including the labour and health ministers, hospital CEOs and the head of the Ontario Nurses’ Association, is to meet for the first time in September.

“Workplace violence is a serious hazard in the health care sector and that’s simply not acceptable,” Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said in a statement.

Over the next three years, the group plans to look at how to prevent violence against nurses in hospitals before moving on to other areas of the health-care sector.

Reported violent incidents in several Toronto-area hospitals have increased dramatically in the past three years, the Star reported in July.

In an open letter soon after, Ontario’s NDP health and labour critics urged the government to take action.

Violent incidents in the University Health Network, including Toronto General and Toronto Western, doubled, from 166 to 331, between 2012 and 2014.

“This is not just a one-off; these are daily occurrences of violence taking place in hospitals,” said Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the ONA and a member of the anti-workplace violence roundtable. “Our nurses are trying to provide the best care possible under very difficult circumstances.”

In one high-profile case, a nurse at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health was allegedly beaten severely by a patient last December. The labour ministry laid charges against CAMH under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide sufficient information and supervision to protect a worker from workplace violence and failing to implement measures and procedures to protect workers from workplace violence.

Many other instances of abuse go unrecorded, Haslam-Stroud said, adding that she hopes the roundtable will lead to mandatory reporting of all incidents.

She also wants the group’s final report to call for better security in hospitals and to ensure that units are always properly staffed with nurses.

Workplace violence in hospitals, to say nothing of other parts of the health-care sector, costs the province $23.8 million annually, the labour ministry said.

Violence claims make up 10 per cent of lost-time injuries in hospitals.

“Instead of spending money on lost-time injuries, or nurses who are still not back to work because of severe injuries, that money can be reinvested in patient care,” Haslam-Stroud said.

Last year, 11 hospital workers who were hurt in an assault were unable to return to work the next day.

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Another member of the roundtable, Ontario Hospital Association president Anthony Dale, said workplace safety is a top priority.

“The hospital sector has a number of existing strategies and programs to prevent workplace violence, and we look forward to working with government and other system partners to develop an action plan that builds on what is already in place,” he said in an email.