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Sheriff and DPH report security overhaul at San Francisco General after patient death
Summary
After the death of a patient at San Francisco General Hospital, DPH and the sheriff outlined a corrective-action plan that includes a DPH security manager, new 'code green' missing‑person procedures, training for sheriff staff assigned to the hospital, MOU revisions, and a roughly $1.8 million budget enhancement in the mayor's proposal.
The San Francisco Health Commission on Wednesday heard a security update that department leaders said was prompted by “an unfortunate, incident involving the death of patient Lynn Spalding at SFGH,” and that has led to a coordinated corrective-action plan between the Department of Public Health and the sheriff’s department.
Roland Pickens, director of the San Francisco Health Network, told commissioners the reviews and corrective actions covered four areas: leadership oversight, patient safety, contracted services and facility improvements. He said the corrective-action plan includes developing a comprehensive security plan and appointing a full‑time security program manager charged with producing and overseeing that plan.
Sheriff Macarini described operational changes already in place at the hospital, including assigning a captain to SFGH, instituting daily stairwell checks and expanding supervision. “I took a captain, and I literally grounded the captain there at SFGH,” he said, explaining the captain reports directly to him to speed decisions on campus operations.
DPH staff gave specific implementation updates: sheriff staff assigned to SFGH have completed orientation and SMART training; a new "code green" missing‑person policy was developed (initiated in November and completed in January) and has been triggered when needed; and a larger space has been identified for a hospital security operations center with technology upgrades budgeted. Kathy Jones told the commission a monthly Environment of Care committee now reviews every code‑green activation and tracks outcomes: “we actually have a committee called the environment of care committee that meets once a month, and the security report is done every month…we collect that data.”
Commissioners pressed for outcome measures and reporting. Commissioner Singer said accreditation risk and staff safety demand urgency; staff and the sheriff agreed to provide regular outcome metrics to the commission and to the joint conference committee so the board can monitor code‑green activations, training outcomes and other measures.
On funding, the sheriff and DPH described an enhancement in the mayor’s budget that the sheriff characterized as roughly $1,800,000 to support expanded security resources and staffing at hospital sites, including increased patrols, added presence at urgent‑care and substance‑abuse clinics and more cadet staffing to supplement deputies. DPH said a security‑manager position is included in the DPH FY 2014–15 budget and an interim exception to the city salary ordinance has been requested to begin recruiting earlier than July 1.
Next steps include finalizing a revised memorandum of understanding that spells out performance expectations between the sheriff’s department and DPH, completing the security operations center transition, ongoing staff training, and monthly reporting to the commission and the joint conference committee.
