By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Nurses’ union seeks emergency meeting with health minister over Red Deer “staffing crisis”

Jul 23, 2018 | 3:22 PM

The union representing emergency room nurses at Red Deer Regional Hospital has written Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman to ask for an emergency meeting regarding the ongoing “staffing crisis” at the hospital.

United Nurses Alberta Labour Relations Director David Harrigan says they intend to use the meeting to press its urgent case that the government must intervene with Alberta Health Services to require new nurses be hired to end the crisis in Red Deer.

“Today’s letter asks the minister to take measures to require Red Deer Regional Hospital management to hire adequate numbers of Registered Nurses to operate the Emergency Department,” Harrigan said in a media release Monday.

Harrigan says RNs at Red Deer Regional’s Emergency Department worked more than 230 hours of overtime this past weekend (Fri. – Sun.).

“This constant crisis approach to managing the Emergency Department has to end,” said Susan Beatson, President of UNA Local 2 at Red Deer Regional Hospital. “The employer must hire enough nurses to keep the department in operation without the additional costs and stress of constant overtime.”

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UNA filed a grievance last month to “resolve a critical and chronic staff shortage in the department, which, in addition to making heavy use of mandatory overtime, may soon bring in nurses from Calgary to keep the emergency room operating in Red Deer.”

The union says their grievance was filed after more than two years of constant effort by its members in Red Deer to get AHS to hire appropriate numbers of nurses. UNA is calling for the hospital to hire the equivalent of 27 full-time RNs.

UNA says AHS informed them Friday that only eight positions would be posted, the equivalent of six full time nursing jobs, as opposed to the 15 positions promised in a media statement last week. The union says none of the positions were posted as of Monday morning and that a new proposed schedule provided to the union showed a decline of 7.43 full-time positions.

“So even with the new positions the crisis actually seems to be getting worse,” Harrigan said.

“It makes no sense to be spending money on travel, parking and overtime pay for nurses from Calgary when it would cost less to hire the number of nurses that are needed in Red Deer, and also ease the stress and burnout experienced by nurses already working in the department,” he added.