A Recently Retired Nurse In Niagara Shows The Courage To Voice Her Concerns On The Downward Spiral Of Our Hospital Services

By Linda McKellar

(from a presentation Linda McKeller delivered during public hearings hosted this March 9 by the Ontario Health Coalition in Welland Ontario, as part of a series the not-for-profit, province-wide coalition is holding in regions across Ontario on concerns over service cuts to our hospitals.)

I have been asked to give a presentation representing the point of view of a group who have been reluctant to speak out due to fear of repercussions – the front line nurses.

Retired Niagara nurse Linda McKellar testifies at public hearing about diminishing hospital services in Niagara. Photo courtesy of Donna Frankson.

By way of introduction, I was a nurse for 40 years, the last 25 in Welland ER (emergency room), so I feel I can speak accurately about the conditions.

Conditions in the entire hospital have gotten progressively worse. The staff attitude has become one of despair and frustration and public opinion of services has gone down the toilet. This started with cutbacks and closures under the Conservatives and now continues under the Liberals. Care has suffered horribly.

These initiatives didn’t work then and they won’t work now.

To illustrate my point I would like to give you an approximation of a day in Welland ER. A triage nurse assesses everyone who comes in the door. At times we have even had fights over who will go next because so many are waiting. The charge nurse coordinates activities, processes orders and makes contact with families, consultants and other departments. 

There are 12 heart monitored beds for individuals with widely varying maladies who require observation and treatment. There are 2 resuscitation rooms for critical cases – heart attacks, strokes, vehicular and industrial accidents, burns, overdoses and so on. These folks are often unconscious or anaesthetized, confused and combative or just so desparately ill that they require constant attendance by one or more nurses.

The responsibility for these 14 beds is shared by 2 nurses and by a third nurse who is ALSO responsible for 6 examining rooms and a procedure room where time consuming dressings, casting of fractures and minor operating procedures are done. There is also a seclusion room for violent psychiatric patients who often upset and frighten everyone in the department.

People who are too sick to stay in the waiting room when there are no beds end up in the hall. There is one doctor. A few times a second doctor has been available but even then, they cannot speed things up when there are no rooms available to examine people. Would they suggest we lance a rectal abscess in the waiting room? The staff works 12 to 14 hours often without breaks and frequently gets called back early or on days off. I have taken the same lunch 3 days in a row until I finally threw it out! These are NORMAL conditions. Add a couple of critical arrivals and chaos is inevitable.

Now we have to deal with the effects of the wonderful NHS hospital IMPROVEMENT plan. In their arrogance and wisdom they have closed 2 hospitals and 2 ERs, Fort Erie and Port Colborne, both distant from the remaining hospitals and in areas of very isolated freak winter storms.

Here are the results from a nursing standpoint.

The remaining ERs are deluged with patients from these peripheral areas. ERs are gridlocked. Paramedic services are tied up because they cannot leave their charges for safety reasons until they are accepted by the hospital.

That means they are not available for YOU!  Astonishingly these statements were made in the Niagara Falls review last week by Anne Atkinson the VP of patient services for the NHS under the headline “ER changes helping patients” I quote – “We don’t know why we are seeing this increase” and “we are seeing more people being admitted at all three large sites, (Welland, NF and St. Catharines) and again we can’t provide specific data on why”. Are they really that stupid?! I also find increased admissions due to infections and other complications resulting from post operative patients being sent home too early.

Patients are languishing on uncomfortable stretchers with no privacy even when dying, with too few staff to care for them and their families. Halls are full of patients on stretchers contrary to fire codes. I have seen patients kept in storage rooms. As for staffing, since the ER has monitored beds so when ICU is full, as it often is, these poor souls with fresh heart attacks are kept in the busy, noisy ER. Not exactly what the doctor ordered. Many have several IV drips with potent drugs that require constant adjustment according to the patient’s condition.

These drugs are the difference between life and death!  In ICU the staff ratio for these people would and SHOULD be 1 to 1 or 2 to 1. In the ER they are cared for by a nurse with 5 or 6 other patients who also must contend with whatever comes in the door. Staff cuts mean nurses do lab, EKGs and other procedures formerly done by others. Housekeeping cuts leave the place filthy at times. Add to this witches brew 20 or 30 angry people in the waiting room for 4 to 8 hours.The nurses feel like they are bound and gagged with anvils around their necks trying to tread water. Sick time is up due to stress and work injuries and overtime is up – a huge factor in the cost over-runs.

The NHS brass hides behind a cloak of secrecy and COSTLY propaganda. Even the Ontario Nurses Association which has been trying vociferously to advocate for the public can’t get answers from them. Highly trained nurses are being replaced by generic staff lacking necessary skills. They throw out statements like “nursing vacancies are down”. True when you eliminate positions and don’t replace people who quit or retire.There are more consultants flying around than frisbees in a park on a Sunday afternoon.

When I see someone in stilettos with a clip board, I know they’re not there to empty bedpans. When reports come from these highly paid consultants, they are ignored if they don’t coincide with their agenda. I recall a very costly “cost-saving” consultant in the past who, once paid, immediately declared bankruptcy! The NHS has all the qualified consultants they need for free – the staff and the public. As for trust, there is none. Shortly before the Fort Erie and Port Colborne closures, Debbie Sevenpifer, who is paid more than the Prime Minister of Canada, declared “I am committed to keeping these full service hospitals”. Guess what – they’re gone.

In conclusion, these policies effect everyone, not just the sites closed. The bean counters who think of nothing but money and self aggrandizement have reduced my once proud profession of nursing to crowd control. Tragedies always happen to the other guy, right? Well, a few local families have found otherwise and paid dearly.

You will hear some of their stories today. I have many I cannot tell due to patient confidentiality but they can tell theirs.

As for Welland and Niagara Falls (hospitals), don’t feel too secure. Your turn is coming.

(Click on www.niagaraatlarge for Niagara At Large and more news and commentary of matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater binational Niagara region.)