/R E P E A T -- Runnymede Healthcare Registered Nurses Continue Pickets to Protest Cuts to Nursing Hours/

TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2015 /CNW/ - Registered Nurses (RNs) from Runnymede Healthcare Centre will be holding an information picket near the hospital at 621 Runnymede on Monday, November 30, from 2-4:30 p.m.

The RNs and their supporters are hoping to raise awareness about the hospital's plans to gut RN hours, removing a staggering 41,000 hours per year, despite an 8.5 per cent budget surplus.

"It is shocking that a hospital would choose to cut front-line nursing services under the guise of 'adopting a new nursing model to enhance the patient experience,' while refusing to look elsewhere for efficiencies," said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN.

Haslam-Stroud says that research evidence shows that every patient added to an RN's workload increases by 7 per cent the risk of complications, including bed sores, ulcers, pneumonia, sepsis, cardiac arrest and even death, and patients are more vulnerable to medication errors.

Despite this and after weeks of meetings to dissuade the hospital from making these draconian cuts, hospital management has moved ahead with its plans to gut RN care.

"Runnymede Healthcare Centre boasts of the superiority of its care on its website," notes Haslam-Stroud. "However, cutting RN care hours from 82,000 hours per year to just 41,000 hours per year is anything but superior."

ONA is the union representing 60,000 front-line registered nurses and allied health professionals as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in Ontario hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.

Visit us at: www.ona.org; www.Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; www.Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Lauren Snowball, [phone], ext. 2317; Cell: [phone]; [email protected]; Karen Todkill, [phone], ext. 2248; [email protected]