Health and social services centre - Employees should be able to be identified by users

A user who went to a hospital centre emergency room deplores that most of the nursing staff do not wear their ID card.

Even though she insisted that staff members identify themselves, they refused to do so.

The citizen’s complaint concerned:

• the inadequate identification of staff.

The Québec Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that:

• the head of emergency says that all employees must wear their ID card and most do. However, it is possible that the staff from private agencies do not;
• steps were underway between the staffing service and emergency so that employees from private agencies also have ID cards that enable them to be identified easily;
• according to the nurses’ notes, the nurses felt harassed by the user insisting on knowing their name;
• the dress policy at the hospital’s health and social services centre stipulates that a visible ID card must be worn safely at all times by all personnel.

The Québec Ombudsman recommended that the health and social services centre take the appropriate measures so that:

• all emergency staff, including those coming from private agencies, wear an ID card as required by the dress policy;
• the ID card be visible to all at all times.

The health and social services centre agreed to act on the Québec Ombudsman’s recommendations. All members of the staff non wear their ID card.