Medical Surgical Registered Nurses’ Workload Concerns Going to an Independent Expert Nurses’ Panel

Nurses Have Serious Patient and Staff Safety Concerns at Campbellford Memorial Hospital

CAMPBELLFORD, ON, June 23, 2023 – Specialized medical-surgical registered nurses (RNs) at Campbellford Memorial Hospital have taken the rare step of calling in an Independent Assessment Committee (IAC) to investigate issues in the hospital’s inpatient medical unit and special care unit. The nurses – members of the Ontario Nurses’ Association – have repeatedly raised serious concerns with hospital management and received no resolution.

“Our highly educated and skilled RNs have consistently provided written documentation to this employer, outlining the impact of inadequate RN staffing and imbalanced skill mix levels on their ability to provide safe, ethical quality care for their patients,” says ONA President Erin Ariss, RN. “Campbellford Memorial Hospital has failed to address these issues and the RNs remain gravely concerned, not only for the safety of their patients, but also about their ability to meet their professional standards due to insufficient RN staffing levels. The hospital changed its nursing care model, laying off four RN positions and reducing the inpatient unit RN resources in February of this year. The employer disregarded the mounting reports of ongoing staffing and acuity issues consistently raised by our RNs since 2017.”

The Independent Assessment Committee hearing will be held Monday, June 26, 29 and 30. The panel of three nursing experts will hear evidence from the inpatient unit RNs on the negative effect that inadequate RN staffing and skill levels are having on patient care. “Campbellford Memorial is the primary hospital caring for patients in a more than 100-km radius – this community relies on safe, quality care from their hospital and deserves no less,” says Ariss.

An IAC hearing is a last resort when RNs and management have been unable to resolve the workload concerns internally. The panel will determine whether RNs are being assigned more work than is consistent with the provision of proper patient care; it will then make recommendations.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics, and industry.

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To arrange an interview, contact:

Sheree Bond shereeb@ona.org