Yellowknife hospital adds second psychiatrist after inquest

After years of struggling to keep one psychiatrist, Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife now has two full-time psychiatrists.

The addition is the latest step in the hospital’s efforts to improve mental health services following the inquest into a woman’s death in Yellowknife.

The RCMP shot and killed Karen Lander in March 2012 following a standoff where she threatened suicide and pointed a gun at police.

Two months ago, a coroner’s jury made 16 recommendations, six of which apply to the hospital.

Kay Lewis, the hospital's CEO, said the continuity will improve mental health services.

For years, the hospital relied on temporary psychiatrists, or locums.

"Before we had, not that they weren't good locums, but you have locums that had a particular style or approach and it may work for some and not others," she said.

"Here, it's more stability in the type of care and service model we're delivering. As well, those people know the communities and get to know the patients."

Lewis said in addition to the in-house psychiatrists, Stanton has a partnership with Dalhousie University. Psychiatric residents from the school do a rotation in the N.W.T. and follow up with patients remotely.

Lewis said the 10-bed psychiatric unit at Stanton is full most of the time, and ideally, the hospital would have at least six full-time psychiatrists.

Lewis said she hopes recruiting professionals will get easier now that there is a larger team in place.

Challenge to adopt inquest recommendations

Lewis said they have to work out some of the recommendations from the coroner’s inquest.

Currently, psychiatric nurses are only consulted when ER doctors want their expertise. The coroner’s jury asked for a full-time psychiatric nurse to assess suicidal patients in the emergency room.

"Do we need someone there 24/7, or do we need someone that is available 24/7? And those are two different things in terms of funding, so I think that's what we're looking at now, is really what is the most urgent need," said Lewis.

She said the challenge is finding the best place to put mental health resources in order to help people in crisis.

Lewis said there will always be more demand than there is staff.

"You also can't burn them out either and lose them. We need to find that balance between appropriate utilization and you have to make sure you make the system as effective as possible."

Stanton is also working on the other recommendations, which include faster communication between emergency room staff and family physicians, as well as more cultural training for nurses and doctors.