BY MICHAEL JAMES
When the provincial government signed over a $83.3 million dollar cheque to Sudbury Regional Hospital (HRSRH) for the completion of construction on its new one-site super hospital back in August, some people may have imagined the hospital was out of the woods.
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Such is not the case with the front-line registered nurses who work at the Sudbury Regional Hospital.
In their view, the $83.3 million may be enough to cover construction costs, but it is nowhere near enough to ensure patients receive the quality of care that befits a facility that functions as a referral centre for all of Northern Ontario.
According to a full-page advertisement run in another publication last week, the nurses are being told they must implement the cost saving measures proposed under the government imposed operational review. What's more, they're being told it's non-negotiable.
Furthermore, the nurses have not been consulted on how to go about affecting the proposed cutbacks.
According to Ann Kennealy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association Local 013, the registered nurses working at Sudbury Regional Hospital have some really good suggestions on what areas can reasonably be cutback and they need the hospital's administration to look at them.
For example, Kennealy said the hospital is looking at merging the neuro-surgery departments and the orthopedic departments, which would impact both sets of nurses greatly.
Â?The nurses have come up with a different proposal...which will allow the nurses in each department to maintain their identity and expertise within the hospital setting,Â? she said, adding nurses have trained long and hard to achieve their particular area of expertise.
Registered nurses are also concerned over talk hospital management wants to bring in non-regulated personnel to work in a variety of different departments.
Â?We are an acute care hospital,Â? Kennealy said. Â?It's not the place for support workers. They should be out in the community.Â?
Kennealy said she hopes the advertisement will get the community thinking.
Â?If we don't meet these efficiencies of the operational review - our funding is based on whether or not we meet those objectives - then we've got some concerns as to how much more they're going to want to cutback,Â? she said.
Kennealy said nurses are left wondering where it's all going to end.
Â?Ultimately, patient care is going to suffer,Â? she said.
As for layoffs, Kennealy said she's hoping there won't be any nurses laid off.
Â?We're working very hard not to have any lay offs,Â? she said. Â?The nurses all have grave concerns over where patient care is heading, they're all extremely overworked and I don't know how much longer they'll be able to maintain that.Â?
Once the one-site hospital is in place, doctors and nurses won't be able to refer patients elsewhere in the city, she said.
Â?We're a large referral centre and if we can't maintain that and enhance it, then where does our hospital stand in the broader scheme of things,Â? she said.
Sudbury Regional Hospital chief executive officer Vicki Kaminski said she understands how some people might be concerned.
Â?I think when things are changing as much as they have been (at the hospital), people are going to be concerned,Â? Kaminski said.
The secrecy surrounding the operational review has definitely contributed to an air of uneasiness, she said.
However, Kaminiski maintains nurses and hospital administrators are on the same page.
Â?We all want quality patient care maintained,Â? she said. Â?Nobody wants to see that eroded.Â?
Kaminski said nurses have every opportunity to bring forward suggestions, through their supervisors, managers and directors.
Â?Good ideas are needed and we're always looking for them,Â? she said.
Kaminski dismisses concerns the hospital intends to replace some registered nurses with cheaper, non-regulated staff.
Â?As we change our configuration of beds, and if we end up with long-term care beds in a certain segment of our hospital, then that's where those non-regulated health care workers will be,Â? she said.
Unless there's a provincial Â?best practiceÂ? that says we're way out of step, these workers won't be introduced in areas where the hospital has had acute care before, Kaminski said.
