本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Nurses tired of cuts
QUINTE HEALTH CARE: 2009 an accreditation year
Posted By W. BRICE MCVICAR THE INTELLIGENCER
Posted 11 days ago
Having spent more than three decades as a nurse at Belleville General Hospital, Lorrie Gannon can remember better times.
Gannon was one of about 20 registered nurses who paraded along Dundas Street West, just outside the South East Ontario Local Health Integration Network office, to raise public awareness about nursing cuts in Ontario. The reduction in nurses, Gannon said, means the quality of care people are receiving has suffered.
"We're just being stretched too far," Gannon said. "Thirty years ago we were able to give patients the best possible care, but now we're cutting corners."
Gannon said many people don't realize 2009 is an accreditation year for Quinte Health Care and that process involves examining patient care levels. Due to changes in staffing and workload, she said, patient care is not what it was years ago.
"It's going to be compromised," she said. "We're seeing more elderly patients with more acute problems and we can't keep up with it."
The rally was organized by the Ontario Nurses' Association Local 031 and was held simply to raise public awareness, explained the local's bargaining unit president Angie Stott. She said people need to realize they will be impacted by nursing cuts across the province and here at QHC.
"There are less nurses that are going to be at the bedside with the first proposal of the Murphy Walsh self improvement system," Stott said referring a report commissioned by QHC describing how the corporation could save millions of dollars. "The next one, which is option four, would actually be bed cuts so there's less beds and then less nurses."
Stott said though no one has received a layoff notice the corporation has not been following the collective agreement with position displacements. She said with fewer nurses at the bedside it increases chances that things could be "missed" when it comes to a patient's care.
Bernie McCormack, local coordinator for Local 031 of the ONA, said the problem's roots flow back to Queen's Park. A lack of provincial funding for hospitals means corporations such as QHC are left to tighten the purse strings and, ultimately, impacting front line workers.
The Liberal government may have increased funding for health care, she added, but even the delivery of funding is inadequate.
"I don't believe they're actually giving it out in funding to the hospitals, they're giving it out in pockets," McCormack said. "They're giving money to special circumstance things but they're not increasing funding to the hospitals."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
QUINTE HEALTH CARE: 2009 an accreditation year
Posted By W. BRICE MCVICAR THE INTELLIGENCER
Posted 11 days ago
Having spent more than three decades as a nurse at Belleville General Hospital, Lorrie Gannon can remember better times.
Gannon was one of about 20 registered nurses who paraded along Dundas Street West, just outside the South East Ontario Local Health Integration Network office, to raise public awareness about nursing cuts in Ontario. The reduction in nurses, Gannon said, means the quality of care people are receiving has suffered.
"We're just being stretched too far," Gannon said. "Thirty years ago we were able to give patients the best possible care, but now we're cutting corners."
Gannon said many people don't realize 2009 is an accreditation year for Quinte Health Care and that process involves examining patient care levels. Due to changes in staffing and workload, she said, patient care is not what it was years ago.
"It's going to be compromised," she said. "We're seeing more elderly patients with more acute problems and we can't keep up with it."
The rally was organized by the Ontario Nurses' Association Local 031 and was held simply to raise public awareness, explained the local's bargaining unit president Angie Stott. She said people need to realize they will be impacted by nursing cuts across the province and here at QHC.
"There are less nurses that are going to be at the bedside with the first proposal of the Murphy Walsh self improvement system," Stott said referring a report commissioned by QHC describing how the corporation could save millions of dollars. "The next one, which is option four, would actually be bed cuts so there's less beds and then less nurses."
Stott said though no one has received a layoff notice the corporation has not been following the collective agreement with position displacements. She said with fewer nurses at the bedside it increases chances that things could be "missed" when it comes to a patient's care.
Bernie McCormack, local coordinator for Local 031 of the ONA, said the problem's roots flow back to Queen's Park. A lack of provincial funding for hospitals means corporations such as QHC are left to tighten the purse strings and, ultimately, impacting front line workers.
The Liberal government may have increased funding for health care, she added, but even the delivery of funding is inadequate.
"I don't believe they're actually giving it out in funding to the hospitals, they're giving it out in pockets," McCormack said. "They're giving money to special circumstance things but they're not increasing funding to the hospitals."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net