Worcester Nurses' Union Says Staff Cuts Jeopardize Patient Safety

WORCESTER, MA — St. Vincent Hospital nurses have filed more than 500 reports of staffing and patient conditions that have jeopardized patient safety.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the nurses' union, said the complaints were made from July to December with state and federal agencies. Another 102 complaints have been filed in January, a number the union called "alarming."

“We are sickened to report, but find ourselves duty bound to do so, that the conditions documented in these complaints raise serious concerns about the safety of patient care at our hospital,” Marlena Pellegrino, co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the MNA, said in a statement. “As these complaints show, our administration has created an environment that too often violates the dignity of our patients and compromises our ability to meet accepted standards of patient care."

The complaints "highlight significant deficiencies in staffing, hospital policies, allocation of technology, and a deliberately punitive management culture that is resulting in dangerous delays in the administration of needed medications and treatments, preventable patient falls and other complications, including preventable patient deaths," according to the MNA.

The MNA claimed that the hospital has implemented a "concerted campaign" to cut staffing levels and increase nurses' patient loads in violation of the nurses' contract, which was negotiated to end a 10-month nurses' strike in 2021-22. The for-profit corporation Tenet Healthcare, based in Dallas, owns St. Vincent Hospital.

St. Vincent Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Among the complaints, a confused and restless patient required a 1:1 sitter but none was available. The patient suffered an unwitnessed fall.

In the maternity unit, a patient who was in active labor for more than 5 hours was “on hold” for a C-section. Multiple patients were placed “on hold” for inductions because of inappropriate staffing levels, according to the union.

The MNA also said that there were nights when four nurses were responsible for more than 100 patients, including critically ill patients waiting for a bed in the intensive care unit.

In 2022, the MNA was concerned about the hospital's plan to eliminate IV workers, a move the union said would "degrade patient satisfaction, increase the risk of serious harm and unnecessary suffering for our patients, expose our staff to preventable needlestick injuries."

See related: Worcester St. Vincent Nurses Raise Alarm About Plan To Cut IV Workers