Changes Strengthen Community Access Policies for Patients

The province has made changes to the way patients at the East Coast Forensic Hospital are granted access to the community after the tragic death of respected activist Raymond Taavel a year ago today, but there is still work to be done.

"Today I, like all Nova Scotians, will remember Raymond Taavel. And we will honour his memory by continuing to do the hard work necessary to keep Nova Scotians safe," Health and Wellness Minister David Wilson said today, April 17. "We have made progress, but we know we can do more to ensure the public is kept safe while, at the same time, helping to treat and rehabilitate forensic patients."

On April 16, 2012, a patient of the East Coast Forensic Hospital failed to return after being given community access privileges. Mr. Taavel died outside a Halifax bar in the early morning of April 17. The criminal case is still before the courts.

After Mr. Taavel's tragic death, the departments of Justice and Health and Wellness, and the Capital District Health Authority, conducted a joint review of community access privileges given forensic patients by the East Coast Forensic Hospital. They also reviewed the processes of the Nova Scotia Criminal Code Review Board.

The review identified areas for improvement and made recommendations to strengthen forensic mental health in Nova Scotia.

Recommendations completed include:

• opening a new smoking area at the East Coast Forensic Hospital later this month
• eliminating the one-hour community access passes
• suspending future leaves if a patient does not return on time, until staff have reviewed the patient's risk level
• staff reviewing assessments that a patient was well enough to leave the facility
• Capital Health hiring a new community monitor to do followup
• the province improving tracking and statistics of number of patients who have been absent without leave

Actions being taken include:

• training staff on a daily assessment protocol of a patient's mental state before proceeding with a leave
• ensuring clear guidance on how risk impacts community access decisions
• training all staff involved in risk assessment.

The province expects all recommendations will be complete by September.

For more information, visit http://novascotia.ca/just/review_ECFH.asp .