Leominster Hospital CEO Refuses to Meet with Concerned Nurses
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor
The nurses at UMass Memorial/Health Alliance Leominster Hospital are both outraged and shocked about a lack of communication between themselves and the hospital’s CEO Deborah Weymouth.
Nurses at Leominster Hospital are seriously concerned that the hospital’s current plans will end up harming patients in the end, not affording them the care and proper resources that they properly deserve.
“We are shocked by our CEOs total disregard for the nurses and patients at this hospital as demonstrated by her refusal to hear what we have to say about changes that will impact the safety of our patients,” said Natalie M. Pereira, a nurse at the hospital and chair of the nurses’ local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United. “She is the CEO, the buck stops with her and so does the responsibility for the safety of every patient in this hospital. It is all too clear that she cares more about the bucks than the patients at this facility, which only strengthens nurses’ resolve to speak out about the dangers of this plan.”
Last week, a delegation of nurses hand delivered a petition signed by 90-percent of all nurses at the hospital, raising concerns about hospital cuts and requesting to meet with the hospital’s CEO to hopefully address some of the concerns at hand. Nurses were recently notified that Weymouth was reneging on her offer to meet, and would not meet until after staffing cuts and consolidations in the hospital were made.
Serious Concerns
The hospital’s plan calls for the merger of the pediatric, labor and delivery, and maternity units, cutting staff on these units, and expecting nurses who currently specialize in each area to cross train to practice in multiple areas, among other things. This proposal goes against what the professional standards for maternity and pediatric care show is best for those patients.
MNA is also trying to work with the Department of Public Health, submitting a letter to the department alerting them of the dangers of these staff cuts and merging of resources.
“Any careful examination of the hospitals plans, whether it is the plan to merge these units, or to cut staff in the ED and increase patient assignments on other floors, shows that patients are being at unnecessary risk for injury or harm,” said Theresa Love, a nurse on the pediatric unit and member of the nurses negotiating committee. “The failure of our CEO to even listen to these concerns is shocking to say the least.”
Bargaining Agreement
Leominster Hospital acknowledges that the hospital’s CEO has not yet met with the nurses in order to discuss the concerns that they have over safe patient care.
Rather than attributing it to a lack of effort or caring about the concerns of the nurses, the hospital says that bargaining with the Massachusetts Nurses Association is underway, a process that Weymouth respects and doesn’t want to interrupt.
“Deborah Weymouth, President and CEO of HealthAlliance Hospital, continues to be pleased to meet with nurses to talk about quality of care as she has been doing regularly in open meetings for many months,” said Leominster Hospital in a statement. “However, since bargaining with the MNA is underway, we need to respect that process at this time.”