Anyone else having this happen? http://thepeterboroughexaminer.com/A...aspx?e=2813664

Nursing care for patients in the emergency department is going to suffer with the elimination of 14 registered nurse positions earlier this week, Ontario Nurses Association representatives say.

The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) has said that four of the registered nurse (RN) positions are being eliminated through layoffs and the other 10 are vacant positions that are being cut.

Three of the four layoffs are in the emergency department, said Carleen Johnson, the ONA bargaining unit president at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

"As nurses, we're very concerned about the level of patient care that can be provided with the number of RN staff that are left to take care of the patients," said Johnson, who is a registered nurse in the PRHC surgical outpatient department.

"When you cut nursing hours, then you're cutting that number of hours that the patient receives care at the bedside. It has to have an impact on patient care.

"The worst part is they're saying this isn't even the end of it."

A PRHC official couldn't be reached for comment.

The hospital plans to cut 182.3 full-time-equivalent positions and close 20 beds as part of its plan to pull out of its chronic deficit situation. The changes will shave about $27 million from the hospital's budget.

ONA, the union that represents RNs, says the hospital has eliminated 153 RN positions since it started the deficit-elimination plan in July.

The other layoff made earlier this week was a registered nurse in the maternal child area, Johnson said.

Vacant RN positions were cut in the maternal child area of the hospital, the bathing suite, special care nursery and the surgical outpatient float pool that's used to fill in for sick leave, vacations and maternity leave, she said.

Johnson added that the four nurses who are being laid off were given notice this week but the layoffs don't come into effect for three months under the collective bargaining agreement with the union.

Vicki McKenna, ONA's first vice-president, expressed concern about the trend of using personal support workers instead of nurses to care for alternative level of care patients in hospitals.

Alternative level of care patients are generally patients who are waiting for a space in a long-term care facility, but sometimes they are patients who are in stable condition but still need to be in the hospital, McKenna said.

"It raises some big flags and alarm bells for us because patient conditions can change very quickly.... The assessment of a registered nurse we think is important," she said.

Another aspect of PRHC's plan is to reduce the average amount of time a patient is in the hospital.

It's a good theory because most people want to be admitted to the hospital quicker and released sooner, but the idea falls apart if the appropriate support isn't available in the community to care for people in their homes, McKenna said.

"We want people to be assessed properly and treated properly and not rushed through like they're on an assembly line," she said. "These are people we're dealing with here and we can't risk anyone falling through the cracks."

-- With files from Galen Eagle