Nursing hours are being reduced in Ontario's rural community hospitals, threatening patient care. Registered nursing positions at Hagersville's West Haldimand Hospital, Leamington's District Memorial Hospital and Sturgeon Fall's West Nipissing General Hospital are among those that have recently been cut.
"This is more bad news on the issue of RN reductions and service cutbacks," notes Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "RNs are in critically short supply, and to cut them even further is unconscionable.
"While all of Ontario continues to cope with a nursing shortage, it is completely unacceptable to be cutting any registered nursing positions, leaving fewer staff to cope with heavy patient volumes. This certainly is going to have a negative impact on patients and could put them at risk."
In Leamington, one full-time RN in the emergency department was cut in April, leaving only one to two nurses working in the unit on night shifts while other nurses assist in the transfer of patients to larger health-care centres. The Leamington ER sees between 26,000 to 27,000 patient visits annually.
In addition, the hospital consolidated three units (medical surgical, rehabilitation and chronic care) into one unit and closed eight beds as a cost-cutting measure.
"There is simply not enough nursing staff to manage busy emergency departments," says Haslam-Stroud. "In Leamington, the employer acknowledges there are problems with insufficient staffing levels but says that laying off an RN, consolidating units and closing beds is saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. So what price do you put on patient safety and nursing care?"
In Hagersville, West Haldimand Hospital has cut five full-time RN positions - the RNs coordinated care for patients and represented 10,000 hours of front-line care annually. Numerous studies have shown a direct link between increasing morbidity and mortality rates when the hours of nursing care are cut.
In Sturgeon Falls, three full-time RNs were cut because of a $475,000 deficit, and nursing hours were reduced in the emergency department, operating room and enhanced care unit.
Haslam-Stroud adds that, "during the nursing shortage, RNs certainly don't need to hear that jobs are being eliminated. It should be a top priority to attract young people to enter the profession and to retain late-career nurses as long as possible. Hearing that jobs are being eliminated will accomplish neither of these goals."
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