A drunk driver arrives home safely having avoided killing anyone on the way. They figure itSA国际影视传媒檚 all good, risks were taken but they got home. Why change?
This metaphor was applied to the situation at Stanton Territorial Hospital by a nurse explaining how a billion dollar hospital cannot deliver babies for the next two months, if not longer. The driver in this case is the GNWT Department of Health. For years, warnings from hospital nurses have gone unheeded, workplace health risks have been dismissed. Now the family car has gone off the road and Northern families are paying the price.
Health care professionals SA国际影视传媒� dedicated, well-trained, valuable individuals SA国际影视传媒� are disappearing in droves, finding work elsewhere outside their chosen specialty. TheySA国际影视传媒檝e given up.
Health Minister Julie Green confirmed 46 empty shifts in the hospitalSA国际影视传媒檚 obstetrics department. She also said she was alerted to the break in the system last Friday. Yet the warning signs were all there and have been for years.
Tina Drew, UNW Local 11 president, said union leadership has been telling senior hospital management about similar problems in at least six departments for the last 18 months. SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檝e submitted numerous forms stating that weSA国际影视传媒檙e having a crisis situation and the most common one is from obstetrics, but also ICU, and emergency about shortage of staff on shift,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
Has it been going on for even longer?
The UNW statement issued yesterday quoting their new president, Gayla Thunstrom, bore eerie similarities to a letter sent by her predecessor, Todd Parsons, to the deputy minister of Health and Social Services, Bruce Cooper, in July 2019.
SA国际影视传媒淭he common theme that I have heard from members is that morale is at an all-time low at Stanton,SA国际影视传媒� Parson wrote in 2019. SA国际影视传媒淲orkers have stated they do not want to voice their concerns to management, for fear of reprisal.SA国际影视传媒�
He referred to multiple 16-hour shifts in a row endured by SA国际影视传媒渙verworked and exhaustedSA国际影视传媒� nurses due to staff shortages and procedures SA国际影视传媒渃ancelled, postponed, or redirected our of territory.SA国际影视传媒�
SA国际影视传媒淚 suggest that it will continue to be very difficult to recruit strong qualified workers to the North if the morale is so low, and personal safety is an issue. This has become a vicious circle.SA国际影视传媒�
Apparently nothing has changed.
SA国际影视传媒淭he UNW has been hearing about issues stemming from lack of healthcare staff since before the Covid-19 pandemic,SA国际影视传媒� Thurnstrom said Nov. 25.
SA国际影视传媒淲e continue to hear that morale is low at Stanton, particularly because of short-staffing. The lack of staff sets off a ripple effect resulting in workers getting less time off, working longer hours, taking on additional duties, and having to cover more shifts. This situation affects all our healthcare workers, not just nurses.SA国际影视传媒�
These are not our words, these are from the people who deliver babies.
Families, meanwhile, especially those from smaller communities in the Northwest Territories, who end up expending more effort and money to be even farther away from their support systems, are SA国际影视传媒渄evastated,SA国际影视传媒� as are Yellowknife mothers who have been blindsided by the news.
So what happens now? Questioned in the legislature earlier this week, Green didnSA国际影视传媒檛 offer much of a response beyond an emotionless defence of her department, as seems to be the pattern from NWT ministers challenged on the performance of those working underneath them. They seem willing to spend even their own political capital to avoid acknowledging a problem and directing their focus and considerable departmental resources on a fix.
ItSA国际影视传媒檚 true that Green hasnSA国际影视传媒檛 had the smoothest ride as health minister, taking over for Diane Archie after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her role is to support her department, yes, but also to challenge it to be better when it is obviously not doing the job.
ThereSA国际影视传媒檚 too much at stake here to engage in further inaction. What will be the next critical hospital ward to fail?
