A proposed new scheduling plan for the province's nurses will not lead to a reduction of the number of registered nurses working at the Olds Hospital and Care Centre, an Alberta Health Services (AHS) representative said.
A proposed new scheduling plan for the province’s nurses will not lead to a reduction of the number of registered nurses working at the Olds Hospital and Care Centre, an Alberta Health Services (AHS) representative said.
On Nov. 14, the Alberta NDP released a proposed transition plan report dated Nov. 4 for nurse scheduling in the province.
The report includes current staffing numbers for nurses and a proposed "optimized" staffing rotation for provincial hospitals.
For Olds, the report shows there are currently 42 nurses working full-time and part-time shifts to cover the equivalent of 27.42 full-time positions at the hospital.
Under the proposed optimized schedule, 31 nurses would cover the equivalent of 25.88 full-time positions at the hospital.
Deb Gordon, AHS’s leader of collaborative practice, nursing and health professionals, said while the proposed plan presents an "ideal schedule" with "11 less nursing individuals in it," there are no plans to lay off or transfer nurses at the Olds hospital.
The way the plan would work focuses on attrition, she said, where if one of the nurses currently working at the hospital were to move away or retire, that position may not necessarily be filled.
Or, if two nurses are working "portions" of a full-time schedule through full-time and part-time shifts and both leave, the hospital may decide to combine those portions into one full-time position.
At the same time, a number of nurses would be included in a "new regular relief rotation" under the plan in order to make sure all shifts at the hospital are covered, Gordon added.
She said this relief rotation would also provide nurses working at the hospital with adequate time off for rest and eliminate the need to call in nurses on days when they are not scheduled to work.
For example, Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge currently has 37 nurses covering the equivalent of 29.44 full-time positions while the proposed transition plan would reduce that number to 33 nurses covering 29.4 full-time positions.
Through the proposed regular relief rotation for that hospital, five additional nurses would cover the equivalent of 3.3 full-time positions to round out the nursing schedule and make sure all shifts covered.
The nursing "head count" for the regular relief rotation for the Olds hospital is still being working out, Gordon said.
The proposal to shift nursing schedules, she added, is to move nurses "to where they are needed the most so that patients get the care they need."
"The reason that we’re doing that is we’re trying to create more effective schedules. Over time, we need to have those schedules as efficient and as effective as they can possibly be."
The "net effect change" in Olds will be "very little," Gordon said.
"We have no desire to lose any nurses in Olds whatsoever."
Part of AHS’s motive for proposing these changes to nursing schedules is to make sure the province has enough health-care professionals in place to look after an aging and growing population in Alberta, she said.
According to an AHS document dated Oct. 25, the province would need to hire "9,000 more staff per year to simply make up for retirements, turnover and growth" if scheduling changes don’t begin immediately.
Gordon said the changes are also meant to address complaints of exhaustion from Alberta’s nurses.
"It’s not about having less care for patients, it’s about having reliable, consistent care for patients and good schedules that allow staff time off but support the staff being able to stay working in the system and support the patients."
Right now, she added, AHS has no specific timeline to bring the changes into effect.
Heather Venneman, a registered nurse at the Olds hospital and president of the local chapter of the United Nurses of Alberta union that represents the hospital’s registered nurses, said she isn’t totally convinced the proposed transition plan won’t mean layoffs.
"A decrease in head count is, in my opinion, nurses are losing their jobs," she said, adding AHS has not put its position that layoffs won’t happen in writing.
Possible nurse layoffs have come up during ongoing negotiations between the union and AHS, Venneman said.
"Right now, the only thing protecting us is our collective agreement saying they can’t lay us off without a good reason."
In an email to Gordon dated Oct. 31, David Harrigan, the union’s labour relations director, stated AHS’s negotiator involved in contract discussions told the union that if the union "insists on exercising its rights under the collective agreement, (AHS) will no longer agree to achieve (its) goals through attrition."
One nursing position at the Olds hospital has already been cut due to AHS’s desire to change staffing rotations at the facility, Venneman said, and the union has had to fight against AHS’s proposals to take away designated days of rest, overtime pay for nurses who are called in to work on their days off and the elimination of a system that lets nurses know their work schedule 12 weeks in advance.
Gordon said she was unable to comment on current contract negotiation discussions between AHS and the union.
Venneman said she is also skeptical that the proposed scheduling changes would address the problem of nurses working long hours and extra shifts with little time off.
If such a problem continues or worsens, she added, nurses will have to work extra hard and exhaust themselves even further to ensure patients are properly cared for in hospitals.
"We would strive that the public wouldn’t see a big difference except nurses who are already burnt out would be working more (with) less time in between shifts to recover," Venneman said. "Hopefully patient safety wouldn’t be an issue because we would work so hard to make sure that doesn’t happen."
While some hospitals would experience an increase in head counts under the optimized schedule, the proposed transition plan released in November would reduce the total current nursing head count around the province by 170.
That number does not include relief rotation head counts.
A previous scheduling plan prepared in July proposed a head count change of 323, if relief rotation head counts were factored in.
The scheduling changes proposed for the Olds hospital were identical in both reports.
Gordon said the decrease in head count reduction numbers in the two reports is due to "changes in units" at hospitals, where patient populations or staffing levels may have risen or fallen.
Such changes in the proposed head count reduction numbers will continue, she added, until a provincial scheduling transition plan is finalized.
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