VALENCIA (CBS) — Nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital will hold a candlelight vigil Wednesday night to protest policies they say are undermining patient care.

Nurses say the hospital practices “team nursing,” which violates a California law that requires more nurses to be staffed at any given time, according to the California Nurses Association.

“We give our absolute all to deliver the best care for every patient who walks through the door,” Robbie Bailey, a registered nurse at Henry Mayo, said in a statement. “But because the hospital is using far less trained ancillary staff as part of their cost cutting ‘team nursing’ approach, we sometimes have unsafe ratios in medical and surgical units. Patients should know that the nursing care they are being provided may not being delivered by an RN.”

The contract for Henry Mayo RNs is set to expire at midnight, but negotiations between the hospital and CNA/NNU are scheduled for Thursday.
“They made a commitment to the community, and we have tried through the negotiating process to make them honor that commitment, with no results to date,” Henry Mayo RN Brenda Monaco said. “It’s time for the hospital to send a message not only to the nurses, but also to the community that this is a safe hospital that treats its nurses fairly and is committed to providing the highest quality of care to it patients.”

An email sent to the hospital by CBS2/KCAL9 was not immediately returned.

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