Registered Nurses Fear for Cancer Patients as Nurses Cut from London Health
Sciences Clinic
The cuts occurring in the hospital's cancer clinic represent the equivalent loss of more than 14,000 hours of front-line nursing care annually and the loss of 20 per cent of the critical nursing knowledge, support and care for patients and their families.
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"Adding an extra patient to an average RN workload increases the rates of morbidity - complications - and mortality - death - by seven per cent," Haslam-Stroud adds. "It's outrageous that these cuts will subject our outpatient cancer patients to more risk."
The Cancer Centre has been a lifeline for patients who have been living with cancer. A year ago, the
The hospital says the clinic is not over budget and that it has been told to decrease its wait times for referrals. Yet cutting 14,000 hours of front-line care will not decrease wait times for referrals. None of the nine management positions at the clinic have been eliminated and in fact, the clinic is now recruiting four more management positions. Nursing cuts are occurring throughout the province, despite the nursing shortage here and country-wide.
The Ontario Nurses' Association is the union representing 55,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals and more than 12,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.
For further information: Ontario Nurses' Association, Sheree Bond, (416) 964-8833, ext. 2430 or Cell: (416) 926-8240; Melanie Levenson, (416) 964-8833, ext. 2369
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