(UPDATE) Union urging hospital to give RPN her job back, hospital says it's committed to safety

(Left to right) OPSEU Executive Board Member Mike Bisaillon, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Michael Hurley and Northeast VP of  Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Sharon Richer held a media event in North Bay today (Wednesday) to discuss the hospitals decision to fire a RPN.

They say they are advocating to get her job back, as well as putting steps in place to lobby the government for more funding for hospitals across the province.

It is a growing problem in Ontario’s hospitals and there’s a discussion that needs to be had says Hurley.

He says nurses being attacked by patients needs to come to an end.

Hurley says because a Register Practical Nurse spoke out about these conditions at the North Bay Regional Health Centre she was fired.

Northeast VP of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Sharon Richer says this is not acceptable and they are asking the Hospitals CEO to reinstate her immediately.

She says the hospital is sending a clear message to the staff.

Richer says the Union is working with the employee to get her job back and they are encouraging more people to come forward to shed light on the problem.
Meantime, a former hospital patient says understaffing is an issue, pointing to an incident where she had to break up a fight between patients.

Tamara Atkinson was a patient in the Acute Inpatient Care Unit at one point and is backing a local nurses claim that attacks happen on nurses.

The RPN has since been let go after her comments became public.

Atkinson says patients realize the nurses are going out of their way to make sure the treatment is there, but a lot of control is out of their hands.

She says the nurses are trying to do their job but they can’t be everywhere at once.

Hospital committed to safety

The North Bay Regional Health Centre is committed to safety.

That from Hospital President and CEO Paul Heinrich who says they have a number of safety initiatives in place.

He points to a joint health and safety committee, a significant protective services cohort on site, everyone has non-violent crisis intervention training, staff have a number of ways to call for help and he has renewed a commitment to do a review of all staff safety training.

Plus, he says there’s a new program they’re implementing.

The issue has come to light with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions calling for a nurse to be reinstated after speaking out about working conditions and being attacked by a patient.

Back to the issue of safety, Heinrich says they’re obligated to report every significant incident to the Ministry of Labour, the unions can express concerns and even individuals can express their concerns anonymously.

He says there are appropriate ways through legislation and the Ministry of Labour for “people to make complaints and have a formal way to get them addressed in a expeditious manner.”

Heinrich also says one of the things he hears from the union is that there should be new legislation enacted.

He says he’s “pretty confident that a variety of legislation exists to provide the right remedies to ensure that workplaces are safe. And we are absolutely committed to it.”