UMass Memorial Nurses Demand Action Over Deteriorating Patient Care
Thursday, July 31, 2014
After the press conference – where nurses from Marlborough Hospital, Leominster Hospital, UMass Memorial Medical Center’s University Campus, and UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Memorial Campus will be voicing concerns about their particular hospitals – the nurses will deliver a letter to UMass CEO Eric Dickson calling for immediate action on the issues at hand.
“These nurses from throughout the UMass Memorial system want to voice their concerns about the deteriorating patient care that they have witnesses and experienced at their respective hospitals,” said David Schildmeier, Director of Public Communications with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “There have been countless layoffs at multiple hospitals and despite these layoffs – which lead to unsafe patient care – the hospital is still taking in $80 million.”
Nurses and the Massachusetts Nurses Association have been continually advocating for better conditions for nurses that would translate to better patient care. Currently, the UMass Memorial system has one of the worst records for preventable patient readmissions in the state
Lack of Resources
While many programs and staff members have been cut at the hospitals throughout the UMass Memorial system, nurses are complaining that minimally stocked resources are also becoming a cause for concern.
Some of the hospitals in the UMass Memorial system are operated with the idea of only having a minimal amount of medicines and other resources for patients; if a particular material is needed and it has run out, nurses are tasked with calling around to try to find someplace else that has it, something that takes even more time from patient care.
Deteriorating Conditions
Because UMass Memorial is still posting high profit margins, many of the nurses are wondering why important services and positions are being cut throughout the system.
While executives are enjoying their high salaries, patients and nurses are suffering. After delivering their letter to CEO Dickson, these nurses hope that he will see what is really going on throughout UMass Memorial and make some changes to how the hospital is run.
“These are the worst conditions at this hospital that I have seen since I began working here,” said Lynne Starbard, RN, Maternity Nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Memorial Campus and Co-Chair of the nurses local bargaining unit. “Dickson was a physician who came up in this system; my hope is that he realizes what he is doing to patients and nurses by continually cutting important programs and position.”
Related Slideshow: Central MA Non-Profit Hospital CEO Pay, From Least To Most
Here are the total annual compensation amounts for the CEOs of the four non-profit hospital groups in Central Massachusetts. The source is each hospital group’s latest available 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is filed with the IRS and available at Guidestar.org. The CEOs are shown here, from lowest to highest total compensation.
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