Nurses at Edmonton’s Stollery Hospital prepare for layoffs

EDMONTON – Nursing staff at the Stollery Children’s Hospital were notified of impending layoffs during a meeting Thursday afternoon.

The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) confirms staff were told 12 Registered Nurses (RN)  at the Stollery Children’s Hospital will be receiving layoff notices Wednesday.  That is the equivalent of 9.4 full-time positions.

The UNA believes Alberta Health Services (AHS) has plans to replace those nursing positions with Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) or other lesser skilled staff.

“In this case, we understand or believe they will be Licensed Practical Nurses,” says Heather Smith, president of the UNA.  “Licensed Practical Nurses are skilled professionals as well, but they are a different category than Registered Nurses, and that’s a concern. It’s substitution with – although skilled – a lesser skilled individual than the Registered Nurses who are currently providing the services in these areas.”

A spokesperson for AHS confirms to Global News 12 RNs at the Stollery are being laid off. In addition, Kerry Williamson says one LPN and one Nursing Attendant will lose their jobs.

He says the decision is not connected to the provincial budget. Rather, Williamson says AHS is restructuring staffing to meet the current demands.

“I suggest that that’s not a real genuine response,” says Smith. “I believe that there is financial motivation behind this.”

“I think this decision and others you’re going to hear about are very much linked to budget decisions,” she stresses.

“I have heard, just today, that Grey Nuns might be looking at doing a similar switch and bait, in terms of taking RN positions and substituting others for them. It’s an issue of patient safety and appropriate skill levels, appropriate staffing levels, in terms of number, and appropriate mix.”

Williamson would not confirm that the RN positions are being filled by LPNs, but said that it is possible.

“If it’s not, will there be even further reduction in the skill mix?” asks Smith. “We’ve certainly seen this happening… with long-term care recently, where decisions have been made to eliminate LPNs and replace or substitute unskilled workers.”

“We’ve seen that also happening in acute care,” she adds.  “Are they saying they don’t need to replace these 12 nurses at all? Or they’re not giving assurances that they would even be considering skilled providers? That just makes the worry even bigger.”

The Stollery’s executive director says the hospital is just restructuring its staffing for a different RN, LPN, and nursing attendant ratio.

“We’re realigning the staff to have a better mix – we think better for patient care – mix of RNs, LPNs and nursing attendants,” explains Linda McConnan.

“We’ve been reviewing for a while now the model of care in the Stollery and some of our programs, and have decided to realign some of the nursing care in our medicine units, oncology, and ambulatory care.”

“It doesn’t change the total number of staff, but it will change the number of RNs, LPNs and nursing attendants,” she adds.

“It will be a change of the number of LPNs relative to the number of RNs.”

“We believe this move will provide good care to those children,” says McConnan. “The patients will not see a difference in care; the families won’t see a difference in care.”

However, the UNA believes this change will impact quality of patient care and safety.

“The safety of patients is dependent on appropriate staffing levels, numbers, and mix,” says Smith.  “What we have here is an arbitrary substitution which we believe is not going to be conducive to patient safety.”

“In some of the areas that will be affected, LPNs are not, although skilled, authorized to administer certain medications,” she explains.

She adds RNs at the Stollery have already raised concerns about appropriate staffing and appropriate work load.

“Nurses have already brought forward those concerns, they have not been addressed, and in fact, rather than addressing those concerns, this employer, Alberta Health Services, seems to be going in the other direction and further comprising quality and safety of care.”

Willamson says AHS is looking at everything, system-wide, but he isn’t aware of any other nursing layoffs in the province happening Thursday.

McConnan doesn’t expect anything similar at the Stollery in the immediate future.

“It’s an ongoing process, but we don’t have anything anticipated in the short-term that’s under review.”

But, the UNA believes this announcement is just the beginning of something bigger.

“I think that this is the start of much to come,” says Smith. “But if you do it in small increments, I think that there’s a hope that nobody really notices…the end result becomes the same.”

The Stollery is part of a larger hospital complex that includes the Mazankowski Heart Institute and the University of Alberta hospital.  There are about 3,000 RNs working in the entire complex in various full-time, part-time and casual positions.

Williamson expects the laid off nurses will be rehired in existing vacancies in Edmonton, and McConnan agrees.

“We’re hoping they stay within the Stollery in vacant positions and provide care where we can better use their skills.”

The UNA represents 25,000 members. Its current contract expires at the end of March.

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