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Council roundtable flags staffing, safety and system failures at Saint Elizabeth—Hospital
Summary
The CouncilCommittee on Health held a roundtable on Jan. 28 to examine operational breakdowns at Saint ElizabethHospital, with frontline staff and union leaders testifying to chronic understaffing, rising assaults, broken work-order and supply systems, and gaps in clinical services. DBH and hospital leaders promised follow-ups and projects but were pressed for specific data and timelines.
Councilmember Christina Henderson convened a roundtable on Jan. 28 to examine what witnesses described as “operational failures” at Saint ElizabethHospital, the Districtof Columbiapublic psychiatric hospital. The committee heard successive rounds of testimony from nurses, materials handlers, union leaders, attorneys from the Public Defender Service, and hospital and DBH executives about a string of problems that staff say are undermining patient care and worker safety.
"For 3 years we've heard about minimal improvements and only seen things drag on," Nancy Boyd, a registered nurse and DCNA representative, told the committee, describing persistent delays on projects and an "alarming" set of data on violence, staffing, and absenteeism. Multiple witnesses echoed that account, citing unit-level shortages, broken locks and doors, unreliable hot water and HVAC, and a manual supply system that frequently results in empty shelves.
Hospital and DBH officials said they have a range of corrective actions underway: additional hires in recruitment pipelines, an automated inventory management project planned for the fiscal year, $1.5 million allocated to replace worn patient beds and staff chairs, new paging systems, and an existing contract with a national violence-prevention consultant. "We are systematically chipping away at these deficiencies," DBH Director Barbara Basron said, adding that the department will meet regularly with union leaders and the Deputy Mayor.
Council members pressed for more granular data and quicker follow-up. Chair Henderson requested disaggregated assault data, a report on missed medical appointments tied to transportation or staffing, and timelines for purchases such as the interface needed to connect new glucometers to the electronic record. Hospital leaders committed to providing the requested figures and to meeting again under the committee's oversight schedule.
The hearing produced a mix of specific operational demands (work-order logs, interface purchase orders, vacancy counts and overtime hours) and larger systemic questions about whether Saint Elizabeth's has the staffing, governance and facilities needed to serve a population that committee members noted has become heavily forensic and higher-acuity. The committee accepted written testimony through Feb. 5 and scheduled further oversight work in early February.
