Kitchener Hospital Cuts Registered Nurses to Save Money in Wake of Hospital Nurse Wage Boosts

KITCHENER, ON, Oct. 20, 2023 /CNW/ - St. Mary's General Hospital is the first out of the gate to cut its roster of registered nurses (RNs) in a bid to save money after an arbitrator awarded a long-overdue catch up in hospital nurse wages this summer, exploiting the remaining nurses and putting patient care at risk.

"In Doug Ford's Ontario, there is no end to the sneaky ways that will be used to disrespect registered nurses and erode our public health care," says Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. "After a years-long fight for decent wage increases to help address workforce retention, the Ford government's failure to fund public hospitals appropriately is now resulting in hospital CEOs looking at cutting RN positions to balance the books."

St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener is just the first in what ONA believes will be a long list of hospitals that will cut RN staffing. "There is no question that public hospitals need more funding to properly retain, and recruit RN staffing. Despite funding shortfalls, CEOs of our public hospitals have a responsibility to maintain front-line RN staffing and ensure access to high-quality health care for Ontarians," says Ariss.

St. Mary's has informed ONA that it will cut RN positions on a handful of units on some shifts and replace some of the RNs with workers who are paid less than RNs. The RN cuts will take place on units where some of the sickest, most unstable patients are cared for, including the cardiac and general surgery unit and medicine units. In the coronary care unit, the number of patients will increase when the hospital adds two beds, without increasing the number of RNs.

The total number of RN positions cut is 11 full-time and six part-time. Currently, the hospital has 50 vacant RN positions. With both a serious RPN and RN shortage in Ontario, it remains unclear how the hospital will recruit for any new positions.

"This is the start of a wave of RN cuts as the province and hospital CEOs continue to worsen an already crisis-level nursing shortage," says Ariss. "We urge Ontarians to pay attention to the deliberate harm the Ford government and hospital CEOs are doing to our public health-care system and speak up, loudly."

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

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association