London’s Victoria Hospital scrapped day passes and slashed visiting hours to stem the flow of illegal drugs into a psychiatric ward already in crisis from overcrowding and violence, The Free Press has learned.

The flow of drugs had been a long-standing challenge in a ward where a significant minority of mentally ill patients also battle addiction. Patients would get drugs from visitors or while out on a day pass.

But that flow had to stop in a ward whose staff and patients had grown concerned for their own safety, hospital officials said Wednesday after a hospital board member questioned at a board meeting why unfettered visiting hours had been reduced to just four hours a day.

“A number of people who come in were bringing in contraband,” said Laurie Gould, an executive vice-president who oversees patient care at London hospitals.

The crisis in the psychiatric ward peaked two weeks ago when staff enacted emergency measures that also included more security. But the debate about what to do about overcrowded London hospitals continued full bore this week, from the board room of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) to the Grand Ballroom of Hilton London, where provincial politicians heard submissions about their coming budget, including from hospital nurses in London.

In the past three years, LHSC has cut 150,000 hours of care from registered nurses, and the shortage that resulted has reached a critical stage, said James Murray, a registered nurse and president of a bargaining unit of the Ontario Nurses’ Association that represents 3,600 nurses in London.

“It’s not uncommon for mental health patients to wait three or four days in the emergency department,” he told the provincial committee.

Nurses have suffered significant injuries from violence in the psychiatric ward, with the number of reported incidents rising 20-fold last year.

“The safety of our patients and nurses is at risk,” Murray said.

The level of violence seems unprecedented, said Teresa Armstrong, a New Democrat MPP representing London-Fanshawe. “I can’t recall it ever being this (bad),” she said outside the meeting. “We can’t have the most vulnerable people in society taking the brunt of these (hospital) cuts.”

The crisis in London is typical of the rest of the province, said Vic Fedeli, a Conservative MPP from Nipissing. North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury are bracing to cut staff, including nurses, he said.

“We hear similar stories in each community.”

Asked about the criticism, Health Ministry officials emailed a statement, defending their record and new way of funding based on the number and type of patients expected to need care — not simply basing funding on what each hospital was given the previous year.

“This will further support quality, efficiency and effectiveness in the health care system,” a ministry spokesperson wrote. “Funding reform is a key component to delivering better quality care and maintaining the sustainability of Ontario’s universal public health care system.”

The ministry has an ally in LHSC’s chief executive, Murray Glendining, who told board members they shouldn’t expect more cash the coming fiscal year that starts in April than what was provided for the current year. “It’s going to be a flat year for the hospitals,” he said. “The future is not about more money in the (hospital) system.”

The crisis in the psychiatric ward is “the canary in the coal mine,” he said, an indication that those with mental illness or addiction aren’t finding the supports they need in the community, such as supportive housing.

jonathan.sher@sunmedia.ca

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Queen’s Park comes to London

Two dozen groups made a pitch for provincial funds and action Wednesday to a committee touring Ontario to get input about the budget. Among the submissions: