By Sheldon Spackman

Union hopeful for more Red Deer ER nursing hires after meeting with health minister

Aug 1, 2018 | 5:06 PM

Officials with United Nurses of Alberta are hopeful that a staffing crisis at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Emergency Department will soon be addressed following a meeting Wednesday with Health Minister Sarah Hoffman.

UNA First Vice President Jane Sustrik says the meeting at the Alberta Legislature went well, adding that Hoffman appeared to listen carefully to what she and her colleagues had to say regarding the situation.

“We had little time with her, but we made very good use of the time we had,” says Sustrik. “I believe she’s very much a woman of her word and I think she’s going to look into what’s been going on and get back to us relatively soon, like in the next week or two, and we’ll see where we’re at.”

Sustrik says the big issue is the apparent difference between what UNA and Alberta Health Services feel in regards to how many positions and people need to be hired in order to resolve the staffing crisis in Red Deer.

“We’ve talked about 27 full-time equivalent positions,” explains Sustrik. “Now that doesn’t mean 27 people, it often means more than that because it can be a mix of full-time and part-time. AHS, their story is changing day to day as we’ve seen but they’re talking about 27 people which could be something much less and is something much less than 27 full-time equivalents.”

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She says that number could be 11 or 12 full-time equivalents, less than half of what UNA has determined what is needed in Red Deer’s ER.

“Our big ask is for 27 full-time equivalents committed to the Emergency Department,” states Sustrik. “I think another piece of this is, ‘How did we manage to get here? Why are we at this point now and what can we do to learn from this so this doesn’t happen again and again and again?’ Hopefully she’ll look at the narrower picture of what’s happening in Red Deer but how do we do things better and not have to reach crisis, critical points like this again.”

Sustrik says current staff will continue doing their best to attend to the emergency patients coming into the hospital. 

“Nurses and health care providers, on a regular basis, go above and beyond to ensure that health care is provided to Albertans and they get what they need,” adds Sustrik. “I think you will hear Alberta Health Services say ‘There may be slightly longer wait times but service as usual.’ Well, we’ve got a group of care providers, in particular I can speak to nurses that are suffering from burnout and moral distress and are overworked and are scared they will make mistakes because they’re so tired.”

Looking at the bigger picture and how this situation fits into the need for expansion at Red Deer Regional Hospital, Sustrik says it calls into question how well a larger facility would be managed.

“Let’s look at what’s happened,” exclaims Sustrik. “I think there’s some valuable learning that can happen in terms of what are the needs of that particular population. What do we need to do to meet those needs and let’s give Albertans the care that they deserve, not compare it to somebody that might be similar and they can do it here in a different way.” 

”We have different health care needs in this province,” continues Sustrik. “We have different communities and we really need to look seriously at what the needs of our communities are and provide care based on that. Let’s not use a cookie-cutter, let’s look at what the needs are and let’s provide that care.”

Hoffman issued a statement following Wednesday’s meeting with UNA.

“No one knows the issues facing our health care system better than the front line workers who deliver life-changing care every day, which is why I was glad to have the opportunity to sit down with UNA leadership today to discuss their members’ concerns around staffing at Red Deer Regional Hospital,” Hoffman said. “We had a productive meeting and I look forward to continuing to work with UNA and our partners across the province to ensure that front line workers are supported to provide the health care that Albertans deserve.”