Media Advisory - Rally will protest nursing cuts at Almonte General Hospital
ALMONTE, ON, March 15, 2015 /CNW/ - Staff at the Almonte General Hospital will rally at noon on Monday March 16 to protest the cuts to registered practical nursing staff. 6 full-time and 3 part-time registered practical nurse positions are being eliminated at the hospital and replaced with personal support workers.
Registered practical nurses complete a 2-year community college program. They are fully trained nurses and, among many other skills, can do physical assessment, wound care, manage IV as well as dispense medications.
Across Ontario, hospitals are aggressively cutting services in the face of a 5-year funding freeze imposed by the provincial government. Ontario hospitals are the most efficient hospitals in the country with the fewest beds and staff and the shortest lengths of stay.
"Our rally calls on the hospital to reconsider its decision. The rally also asks the provincial government to fund hospitals like Almonte General properly, so that they are not driven to decisions like cutting nurses to balance their budgets" says Linda Melbrew, president of CUPE local 3022 which represents staff at the hospital.
SOURCE Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)
Linda Melbrew, President, CUPE Local 3022, 613-314-5283; Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU), 416-884-0770
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