Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) officials say there will be no reduction in the amount of patient care hours, despite the loss of 14 registered nurse positions.
Cheryl Harrison, OSMH’s executive vice-president, patient programs and people strategy, issued the following statement in response to a news release from the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA):
“OSMH strongly values the compassion and caring that all nurses bring to their role.
“As part of our 2019/20 plan, the hospital has committed to no reduction in direct patient care hours provided by front line nursing.
“Opportunities will be created for nurses and other health care professionals to work to their full scope of practice.
“There will be no involuntary loss of nursing jobs. Some nurses will be eligible to consider offers of early retirement, while others will have opportunities to work in other areas of the hospital.”
It was a head scratcher for ONA president Vicki McKenna.
“I find it difficult to understand. They gave notice of the loss of 14 RN positions that are front-line care providers,” McKenna said, adding those 14 positions represent 27,000 hours of patient care. “They may be substituted by someone else, but it won’t be RNs. I can tell you that.”
Harrison, however, stressed the hospital is "not reducing nursing hours and care will continue to be provided by qualified nurses who are regulated health professionals."
"OSMH employs RNs (Registered Nurses) and RPNs (Registered Practical Nurses) and we strongly value and respect the skills, caring and compassion they bring to their job," Harrison said.
McKenna acknowledged there will be no involuntary job losses, as that is in the collective agreement, but she’s concerned about who will step up to complete the jobs of the RNs and about what the affected RNs’ jobs will be.
“Nurses, like a lot of other occupations, are specialized in certain areas,” she said. “The ones left behind may be asked to take on additional work. They may just choose to leave.”
Harrison noted in her statement there will be some offers of early retirement.
That isn’t enough reassurance for McKenna.
“Retirement is a very personal decision to make. There is no requirement for them to retire if they don’t want to,” she said.
While it is budget time, McKenna has “been told this isn’t related to budget and that it’s a strategy (OSMH is) embarking on.”
It wasn’t the news the nurses and the ONA were hoping to receive during Nursing Week.
“It’s very difficult. Nurses have been the group of health-care providers that have been most impacted by what’s been happening,” she said.
Despite Harrison’s claim there will be no reduction in care hours, McKenna is worried about the patients.
“Patients that are cared for by registered nurses have less complications. They stay in hospital for shorter periods of time. That’s what the research shows,” she said. “I believe patients will be impacted.”
Harrison said it's important to understand "that these are changes, not cuts. The work that is required to be done will continue to be done by regulated health professionals qualified to do the job."
She said the hospital has "initiated a process to make some changes" as part of the collective agreement.
"The process involves steps such as offering early retirement packages and bumping into positions based on seniority," she explained. "That process takes time to play itself out as employees are provided options and given time to make choices."
Only once that process is complete can there be a definitive answer as to what departments will be impacted.
"However, we are confident there will be no involuntary job loss to front-line nurses," Harrison said.
