Group items tagged

The Globe and Mail Wed Jun 24 2015

The supply of nurses in Canada has declined for the first time in almost 20 years, according to a new report that has prompted two prominent national nursing organizations to warn that the country needs to do a better job of managing the health-care work force. The latest snapshot of the nursing field from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) found that more nurses left the profession than entered it in 2014 - a 0.3-per-cent decrease from the previous year in the number of people holding active nursing licences across the country.

When it comes to nursing in Canada, the term "supply" refers to the number of people holding active licences with the provincial bodies that regulate the profession.

Toronto Star Wed Jun 24 2015

The supply of nurses in Canada dropped for the first time in two decades, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information - with one of the largest declines in Ontario. The report, released Tuesday, finds the supply of regulated nurses in 2014 declined by 0.3 per cent over the previous year, raising concern in several national nursing organizations.

Andrea Porter-Chapman, manager of health workforce information at CIHI, said there are several factors at play, including a drop in the number of applicants applying for licensing and an increase in the number of nurses leaving the profession.

The Globe and Mail reports that the supply of nurses in Canada has declined for the first time in almost 20 years, according to a new report. The report has prompted two prominent national nursing organizations to warn that the country needs to do a better job of managing the health-care work force. “Will the workplace feel it yet? Perhaps not. It might take a year or two to see these changes trickle into work settings,” said Linda McGillis Hall, NHSRU researcher and professor in the faculty of nursing at the University of Toronto. “I think this report will actually bring this issue to the forefront again.”

15/April/2015

Staff at Almonte General Hospital represented by CUPE will hold a media conference outside the hospital at 10:00 a.m. on April 16 to announce the next steps in the campaign to protest cuts to registered practical nursing staff at the hospital.10 registered practical nurse positions are being eliminated at the hospital to be replaced with personal support workers.Registered practical nurses complete a 2-year community college program. They are fully trained nurses and, among many other skills, can do physical assessment, wound care, manage IV's and dispense medications.

The Leader-Post (Regina) Tue Nov 25 2014

So what's gone awry in the lean process? Evidently, something to the extreme. Consider Monday's question period. NDP leader Cam Broten described to the assembly the most harrowing treatment of seniors imaginable - all based on concerns of care workers at Regina's Santa Maria Seniors' Home who the Opposition said had requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. According to information from the employees that Broten relayed to the assembly, Santa Maria residents were left with bandages covered in feces and urine simply because there was no LPN available to oversee the changing of the dressings. Broten also spoke of one incident in which he said Santa Maria residents were offered mouldy muffins to eat. The debate quickly deteriorated into the sorry politics that we often see, with Health Minister Dustin Duncan suggesting that it should be the NDP and the employees' union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who should be alerting the care home administration or the health ministry of such goings on.

The first day of arbitration hearings between Nova Scotia’s health-care unions and the provincial government opened with a final attempt by CUPE to prevent unions from being assigned to designated bargaining units.

Arguing on behalf of CUPE, which filed a charter of rights protest against Bill 1, the legislation that merges nine health authorities, Susan Coen told arbitrator Jim Dorsey that he has the power to consider other options.

Although a lawyer for the health associations portrayed this as unions calling for the status quo, Coen noted that the four unions (CUPE, Unifor, Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union and Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union) reached consensus on the association model through a lot of effort.

This week is National Nursing Week, May 12 to 18, 2014. It is an important time to recognize the tremendous work that CUPE members every day do to deliver high quality patient care as part of the nursing team. The Saskatchewan government has proclaimed May 13th Licensed Practical Nurses day, and May 12th Continuing Care Assistant Day. CUPE strongly supports multidisciplinary teamwork and full utilization of all team members' skills and training. CUPE would like to thank all of our members for the tremendous work they do to deliver high quality public health care.

Created: 19 September 2014

13 September 2014

Optimizing Scopes of Practice: New Models of Care for a New Health Care System

What are the scopes of practice that will be most effective to support innovative models of care for a transformed health care system to serve all Canadians?’ To systematically approach the question the Expert Panel, working with the Canadian Health Human Resources Network Project Team, developed a guiding conceptual framework of macro, meso and micro influences on scopes of practice.  They extracted findings from 125 sources of literature on scopes of practice interventions to see their impact; interviewed 50 Canadian and international experts in the field, and worked closely with the Expert Panel over an 18-month period to discuss the key findings and generate recommended actions.

The Chronicle-Herald Sat Jan 24 2015

"... the nursing bargaining unit is composed of all unionized employees who occupy positions that must be occupied by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse." Dorsey explains his view of the "majoritarian principle," arguing that principles of democracy require a union to be supported by a majority of members to be certified. Of course, that is not the way our democracy works. It has been three decades since any party won more than 50 per cent of the vote in a Nova Scotian or Canadian election. And when one party has a plurality, but not a majority, of seats, it still gets to form the government. As a practical matter, only the clerical group (NSGEU) has a majority from one union. No matter. Dorsey tells us that "it cannot be the legislative intent in this restructuring for the first time in Canadian history to impose certification of three unions as exclusive bargaining agents for bargaining units of employees without majority employee support."

And "... no employer wants to bargain with a union ... that does not represent a majority of its employees." Any plain reading of the act tells us that was exactly the intent of the employer, because for three of the groups, there is no majority union. Both the IWK and the regional health authorities (RHAs) had plenty of opportunity to object. They did not. The NSNU has a majority of nurses (RNs and LPNs) at the IWK and in total. Dorsey estimates that the NSNU has 48.9 per cent of the nurses in the amalgamated authority. He appears to have searched everywhere for a pebble to stumble on and finds it there. It is crystal clear that the straightforward path to follow the act is by certifying the NSNU for those employees. Premier Stephen McNeil has eliminated this unnecessary impasse by combining the nursing units for the provincial health authority and IWK Health Centre into a single or common employer unit for bargaining purposes, without compromising the IWK's independence. Good.

West Carleton EMC Thu Apr 2 2015

The loss of 10 registered nursing positions at Almonte General Hospital prompted a joint rally from Carleton Mississippi Mills MPP Jack MacLaren and CUPE members on March 27. About two-dozen people gathered in front of MacLaren's constituency office at 240 Michael Cowpland Dr. in Glen Cairn, calling for the Liberal provincial government to end a four-year hospital funding freeze. The quality of care being given at the hospital will not yet be affected by the loss of the positions, said Linda Melbrew, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) president for local 3022 representing Almonte Hospital.

Kingston Whig-Standard Thu Jan 28 2016

The alarming issue of workplace violence at the hands of patients at some Ontario mental health hospitals was central to talks at a twoday conference hosted by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions at the Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront that concluded Wednesday. "The purpose of the conference is to talk about issues related to their current practice," Helen Fetterly, the union's secretary treasurer and a non-practising registered practical nurse from Cornwall, said. "One of the big issues is we're seeing more violence in the workplace."

Approximately 150 registered practical nurses from across Ontario attended the conference, and Fetterly and Linda Clayborne, an RPN at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton at the mental health site and executive member of CUPE Local 786, met with the Whig-Standard to discuss the RPN's issues. Fetterly said the union was to talk about issues and form an action plan.

Feb 29, 2016

NORTH BAY, ON — Hundreds of hospital and long-term care staff from across Ontario are heading to North Bay today, for a rally in support of Sue McIntyre, who was fired last month for speaking up about workplace violence.

Mar 10, 2016

NORTH BAY, ON — The results of a poll conducted last weekend asking North Bay residents whether they approve of the recent action of the regional hospital for firing a nurse who spoke out against workplace violence, will be released Friday at 10:30 a.m., 120 Lakeshore Rd.

“We were very pleased and thankful that so many in the community took time out of their weekend to complete the poll to the end. Over the last month Sue has received overwhelming support from many people in North Bay. From across the province in fact. This issue has resonated far beyond this hospital, this nurse and this community,” says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) that commissioned the poll.

St. Albert Gazette Sat Oct 24 2015

While the five main political parties in Canada made hay with a great many different election issues, very little was said about that most Canadian of institutions, the public health-care system. Discussion about health care was very conspicuous in its absence and a look at the health-related platform of the Liberal Party of Canada, which won a majority in the Oct. 19 election, doesn't shed much light on its plans.

The major components of the platform include commitments to negotiate a new health accord between the federal government and the provinces, to fund increased access to home care, and to developing a pan-Canadian strategy on prescription medications including bulk purchasing, and improving mental-health services. Home care The most significant component of the platform in terms of funding commitments is expanding home care services across the country with an investment of $2.95 billion over the next four years.

The Sudbury Star Fri Oct 23 2015

Registered practical nurses blaming provincial government health-care cuts for a change in their status at Health Sciences North converged on the office of Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault on Thursday to protest government underfunding. RPNs at HSN say their positions were eliminated and they were transferred to the renal program as renal aides, where they are expected to practise on the dialysis unit like nurses, but their status and pay has been downgraded, according to representatives at CUPE Local 1623. "It's a multi-purpose rally today," said Dave Shelefontiuk, president of CUPE Local 1623. "The immediate purpose is over the action the hospital has recently done, which is to reassign 16 RPNs back to the renal (program), freeze their wages and they're no longer going to be used as nursing staff, but we all hear every week there's a nursing shortage at Health Sciences North and they voluntarily took 16 very experienced nurses out of the system and we don't think that's correct. We think that's degrading to these nurses. They went to school, they're professional nurses, they have the skills and now they're not being allowed to use those skills."

The other purpose of the rally, Shelefontiuk said, was to highlight workers' struggles under the current funding model. "We're over capacity now; the emerg has been just jam-packed," Shelefontiuk said. "Everybody who provides direct patient care is overworked, they're stressed out, and the only thing we can see to correct this problem is if Mr. Thibeault and Premier (Kathleen) Wynne realize that the North East LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) needs to be funded differently from the other LHINs.

21/October/2015

Sudbury, Ont. – Liberal MPP Glenn Thibeault will face a protest by nurses transferred to the renal program at Health Sciences North, on October 22 at 10 a.m. at his constituency office - Unit 4B, 555 Barrydowne Road Sudbury. Registered Practical Nurses (R.P.N.’s) whose positions were eliminated at Health Sciences North were transferred to the renal program, where their skills as nurses are still needed, but their status has been downgraded. “ Registered Practical Nurses are required by the College of Nurses of Ontario to maintain their standard of practice and to practice to the full extent of their skills, whatever their designation is, “ says Dave Shelefontiuk, president of CUPE Local 1623, which represents staff at the Sudbury hospital. “ The Liberal government has put our hospital in a vice-like funding squeeze and one of the sad results is that the hospital is driven to exploit the skills of these highly trained and competent nurses.

North Bay Nugget Sat Apr 2 2016

The president and CEO of the North Bay Regional Health Centre disputes the results of a poll about employee safety released Friday. In a prepared statement, Paul Heinrich said he is "disappointed in the relentless nature of the Canadian Union of Public Employees/Ontario Council of Health Union's efforts to position our organization and our staff negatively." Heinrich said the campaign "is not based on fact and is harmful to our staff and their care of our patients."

The CUPE/OCHU poll indicated that 67 per cent of hospital staff who took part in the Union Calling poll this week do not believe the hospital is doing enough to protect employees from violence in the workplace, and that 72 per cent have experienced physical violence in the past year. Heinrich said the health centre conducts an "organizationwide staff survey" annually, with 75.5 per cent of staff reporting "my organization takes effective action to prevent violence in the workplace," while "73.7 per cent of staff report my workplace is safe."

Fri Apr 1 2016

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO --(Marketwired - April 1, 2016) - A poll of North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) staff conducted earlier this week shows "staggeringly high rates of workplace violence with virtually no resolve from the hospital," said Michael Hurley president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) that commissioned the poll.

The poll shows that registered practical nurses (RPNs) and personal support workers (PSWs) doing direct patient care, are dealing with disproportionately higher rates of workplace violence. 86 per cent of the nurses and PSWs polled experienced incidents of physical violence such as pushing, hitting or having things thrown at them in the last year.