Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Members of CWA Local 1133 have filed complaints with the New York Department of Health over staffing at Catholic Health System's hospitals. The union says it has filed 2,500 complaints in the last 15 months.
"Our members have been grappling with understaffing for far too long. We must address the critical staffing shortages plaguing Catholic Health System facilities. Our efforts to work with Catholic Health System management to improve staffing at the hospitals just aren’t enough and our patients and our staff deserve better,”" says Brian Magner, President of CWA Local 1133, based in Buffalo. "We urge the Department of Health to prioritize robust enforcement of this law. Until we address the pervasive short staffing, our members will continue to document staffing complaints and raise awareness about these working conditions that jeopardize the safety and health of our community."
The complaints submitted Tuesday were gathered across Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Kenmore Mercy Hospital, and Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph’s Campus.
One of the complaints claims that despite the demanding nature of critical care patients, the Hospital only provided nine RNs to care for 26 patients, falling short of the staffing legally required. The number of aides were also deficient by 50%. This staffing shortfall in the ICU raises significant concerns about patient safety and underscores the immediate need for corrective action to ensure safe patient care.
Another claim by the union says 39 patients required care on a telemetry unit. Alarmingly, the hospital did not designate a charge nurse to oversee operations. The available six RNs did not meet the required ratio of 1:4. Instead, each nurse was tasked to care for between six and seven patients. The aides were each assigned 13 patients, again, far exceeding the required maximum.
In addition, the union claims on one night shift, only a single RN was assigned to care for the unit’s six patients. The RN was stretched to their limits and was supported by just one Nurse Assistant. Not only did this scenario fail to meet the required staffing ratios in the collective bargaining agreement, but also posed significant risks to patient care and safety. Such instances of inadequate staffing have persisted.
The Department of Health has begun conducting unannounced visits to hospitals across the state to investigate their adherence to the 2021 Clinical Staffing Committee law.
"Staff recruitment and retention has always been a priority for Catholic Health. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we committed even more resources to strengthen this important work. As a result, we made significant improvements in staffing across our system, hiring more than 1,200 nurses in the past two years and achieving retention rates 10% better than the national healthcare average. While we work hand in hand with the CWA to support our Clinical Staffing Committees, the union’s staffing complaints go beyond Catholic Health and represent a more pressing concern – there are simply not enough nurses and clinical professionals in our community to fill all the job vacancies that exist across the region. Catholic Health continues to work with area colleges and universities to provide educational opportunities for those who wish to pursue careers in the health professions. We call on our state leaders to do the same by committing more funding for clinical education programs, and by recognizing that increased Medicaid funding to support our workforce is long overdue. New York State is currently paying hospitals just 70% of what we spend caring for patients, creating an unsustainable model that will only perpetuate continued workforce shortage s."
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