The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the North Bay Regional Health Centre is putting the health and safety of patients at risk by requiring nurses to work 24-hour shifts.
“This is no way to deliver quality health care - it’s absolutely shocking,” says Michael Hurley, the president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. “We need health care workers to be alert on duty, especially when they are administering medication. Coercing nurses to work round the clock is inhumane and unsafe and it makes it virtually impossible for them to provide the quality of care that patients need. Who wants to be treated by a nurse who is exhausted because she’s been starved of rest?”
CUPE claims there have been multiple times in the past two months when hospital administration has compelled nurses to work 24-hour shifts.
In a news release, the union warns that nurses are already overworked due to years of chronic understaffing, which has contributed to a recruitment and retention crisis, with hospital job vacancies rising by 19 per cent over the last year.
“Our research shows that North Bay needs nearly 500 additional staff over the next four years to meet the pressures of an aging and growing population and to meaningfully improve the quality of care,” Hurley says. “But 24-hour shifts will only drive nurses away and intensify the hospital staffing crisis.”
The response from Paul Heinrich, President of North Bay Regional Hospital didn't shed much light on the situation.
“Our health care system and hospital continue to face significant health human resource challenges," he said in an emailed response to BayToday, "As a result, there have been extenuating circumstances where employees have worked beyond the established regular shift. This isn’t acceptable and we are making every reasonable effort to eliminate this practice.”
Heinrich didn't elaborate on what those efforts are.
