Nurses at the Durham Hospital proposed a staffing schedule to keep the hospital’s inpatient unit open, but it was shot down by South Bruce Grey Health Centre management.
The Municipality of West Grey makes the claim in its court filing for a judicial review of South Bruce Grey Health Centre’s (SBGHC) decision to relocate all 10 inpatient beds at the Durham Hospital to other facilities in Kincardine and Walkerton.
“In response to news of the removal of the inpatient beds, nurses at the Durham Hospital proposed a staffing schedule to permit the inpatient beds to remain open, but that option was not agreeable to SBGHC,” the municipality alleges in the filing. “SBGHC has resisted resisted efforts from the nurses to make staffing of the inpatient beds at Durham Hospital be feasible, and have instead opted to divert nursing resources from the Durham Hospital to other campuses within SBGHC.”
South Bruce Grey Health Centre president and CEO Nancy Shaw acknowledges nurses at the Durham Hospital put together a schedule for consideration, but says “unfortunately it still did not provide the redundancy and support required to maintain the 24/7 function of care for the inpatient beds, as well as providing consistent, accessible access to emergency care.”
“It was unfortunately not something we could follow up on,” Shaw says.
Shaw couldn’t say how many additional nurses would be required to make the scheduling proposal for the Durham Hospital acceptable, only that a “significant number of nurses” are required.
“I was not prepared to speak to the number,” the South Bruce Grey Health Centre president and CEO says in an interview.
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles claims the schedule worked out by staff would have kept the Durham Hospital inpatient beds and emergency department covered for 12 hours daily through October, and fulfill the needs “for holidays and everything.” But he says South Bruce Grey Health Centre management “wouldn’t even look at it.”
“Because it wasn’t management that had done it. It was staff themselves. And they refused to address it and even consider it,” Eccles says.
South Bruce Grey Health Centre announced its decision to relocate all 10 of the Durham Hospital’s inpatient beds last month, due to a “critical nursing staff shortage.” Shaw says the transition of patients will occur as planned, and South Bruce Grey Health Centre is scheduled to complete that process by next Monday, June 3.
Shaw adds South Bruce Grey Health Centre’s scheduling and human resources departments have worked on many different versions of schedules trying to avoid the transition of beds from Durham, but “unfortunately this was the safest alternative to provide consistent, accessible care to the community of Durham.”
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