Residents protest service decline at St. Anthony hospital
Hospital forced to cut ICU beds temporarily because of staff shortages
The union representing registered nurses in the province says the decision to close ICU beds at the Charles S. Curtis Memorial Hospital in St. Anthony has nothing to do with collective agreements and everything to do with a nursing shortage.
“St. Anthony has been in a constant struggle with nursing resources,” Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, said Tuesday. “This is not new, this is not related to vacation, and it’s quite disheartening, actually, to hear health authorities come out and talk about reducing services so that our collective agreement can be followed.”
In a news release earlier in the day, Labrador-grenfell Health (LGH) admitted the region is struggling with a shortage of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses.
“The health authority has been working to ensure we meet the requirements of provincial collective agreements for annual leave during the summer period, to ensure employees are granted time off for rest and recovery,” it said in the release.
“While recruitment efforts are ongoing, we are unable to ensure annual leave for our valued staff and continue to provide usual levels of services.”
Coffey said she’s not convinced much effort is being put into recruitment, adding that provinces such as P.E.I. are actively recruiting outside the province.
“We’re not doing anything like that here in Newfoundland and Labrador,” she said.
Recruitment is hindered by the fact so many nurses have to work overtime and have little quality of life, she said, adding that some end up working 24-hour shifts to make up for shortages.
“I just got word last night two more registered nurses (in Goose Bay) resigned. They can’t take it anymore,” she said.
Changes at the St. Anthony hospital include:
• Reducing operating room capacity;
• Reducing intensive care bed capacity from four to two;
• Moving all acute care beds, including intensive care, to one unit to ensure registered nursing staff collaborate in the delivery of safe and efficient care for patients;
• Cohorting patients who are currently waiting in acute care for other services, including long-term care, to ensure appropriate skill mix is provided.
“These changes are not permanent and are being implemented to ensure the best use of our nursing resources while staff take their deserved breaks,” the authority said.
For St. Anthony resident Dean Strangemore, the move comes as just one more sign that something is wrong with the hospital’s administration.
“Nobody up here trusts that administration,” he said Tuesday.
Strangemore started the Save Our Hospital Action Committee in 2018 when the authority cut eight beds from the hospital.
“We were supposed to get them back in long-term care, but this is three years later and it’s still not there.”
He says reduced hospital services has been a constant theme for years.
A few members held a demonstration outside the hospital Monday, and the number grew to about 60 on Tuesday.
Strangemore hopes hundreds of residents in the region will turn out today to show their concern.
“We’re just going to go and show that the community is behind this. Enough is enough. Every time you turn around they’re trying to cut from this hospital,” he said.
“Recruitment has gone out the window for this hospital. Everything has gone out the window. We’re 15 to 17 nurses short.”
As of Tuesday, there were reportedly four people in ICU at the hospital, and Coffey said there’s basically nowhere for them to go if beds are reduced. A backup plan to move the overflow to St. John’s hospitals won’t work because those facilities are also over capacity.
“It’s a bottleneck,” she said. Strangemore said he talked to LGH CEO Heather Brown Tuesday, and she said she wanted to arrange a meeting with the committee on the issue.
Saltwire Network asked LGH for more clarity on its plans, but was told answers would not be provided until Wednesday because of time constraints.