North Bay hospital putting patients at risk with 24 hour nursing shifts, CUPE says

Nurses take 24-hour shifts at North Bay's hospital CUPE is sounding the alarm over 24-hour nursing shifts that are taking place at the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

The North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) is putting the health and safety of patients at risk by requiring nurses to work 24-hour shifts, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

“This is no way to deliver quality health care – it’s absolutely shocking,” said Michael Hurley, the president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, in a news release Monday.

“We need health care workers to be alert on duty, especially when they are administering medication. Coercing nurses to work round the clock is inhumane and unsafe and it makes it virtually impossible for them to provide the quality of care that patients need. Who wants to be treated by a nurse who is exhausted because she’s been starved of rest?”

According to CUPE 139, the union that represents more than 1,000 health care workers at the North Bay hospital, there have been multiple times in the past two months when the employer has compelled nurses to work 24-hour shifts.

The union warns that nurses are already overworked due to years of chronic understaffing. In September 2022 the union told CTV News that the facility was short more than 300 staff.

Union officials added that understaffing has contributed to a recruitment and retention crisis – with hospital job vacancies rising by 19 per cent over the last year.

“Heavy workloads are one of the main reasons why health care workers suffer the highest injury rates of any profession in Ontario,” said CUPE.

“Impossible and unsafe working conditions for staff and patients will only hasten nurses’ exit from the sector and further erode the quality of patient care,” said Tim Guest, Canadian Nurses Association CEO.

“Nurses that are being asked to work in ways that put them at risk of working fatigued place both themselves and the patient at risk.”

Hurley said the union’s research shows that North Bay needs almost 500 additional staff over the next four years to meet the pressures of an aging and growing population and to improve the quality of care at the centre.

“But 24-hour shifts will only drive nurses away and intensify the hospital staffing crisis,” he said.

“We have staff approaching retirement. We don’t want them to retire. We want them to stay while we bring on new workers.”

The union is requesting NBRHC administration engage in talks to find solutions that address working conditions and patient safety.

Hospital officials declined an interview with CTV News but provided this statement from president and CEO Paul Heinrich:

“Our health care system and hospital continue to face significant health human resource challenges. As a result, there have been extenuating circumstances where employees have worked beyond the established regular shift. This isn’t acceptable and we are making every reasonable effort to eliminate this practice.”

In response, Hannah Jensen, a spokeperson for the Ontario minister of health, told CTV News in an email the provincial government has increased the health care budget by more than $16 billion since 2018, grown the health care workforce by more than 63,000 nurses and 8,000 new physicans while building 3,500 hospital beds across the province.

"But we know more needs to be done, that’s why (we) launched Your Health," Jensen said.

"We have launched the largest medical school expansion in 15 years (with) 44 new undergraduate and 63 new residency seats at NOSM, broken down barriers for internationally educated health care workers to work in Ontario faster, while allowing health care workers registered in other provinces and territories to immediately start working in Ontario, removed financial barriers for nurses wanting to upskill and expanded the 'Learn and Stay' grant which provides eligible students in nursing, paramedic and medical laboratory technologist programs with funding for tuition, books and other costs. Canadore College, CTS Canadian Career College and Nipissing University all have many programs now part of the 'Learn and Stay' Grant."

– With files from CTV News Northern Ontario videojournalist Eric Taschner