KGH nurses rally to voice concern over staffing shortfall
James Moore
5/30/2012
Nurses at Kelowna General Hospital say there's not enough staff to cope with the larger workload brought on by the new Centennial Tower.
40 of them rallied outside the hospital on Wednesday to voice their concern.
Laurie Munday, regional chair of the BC Nurses' Union, argues that nurses are overworked and cannot care for patients properly when staff are spread too thin.
She says patients at Kelowna General outnumber nurses about 7-to-1, while the ideal ratio should be closer to 4-to-1.
The Interior Health Authority says 10 extra nurses were brought in to run the new wing, with at least 8 new positions created to support them.
Munday refutes that claim, saying there were no permanent jobs created at all.
She estimates there are roughly 700 nurses currently on staff at KGH.
The Centennial Tower opened over the weekend, folding several departments into one 6-storey building to make way for a planned cardiac care centre that will eventually replace the hospital's Pandosy Building.