For Immediate Release
August 22, 2011                   

RNs Say Layoffs of Direct-Care Nurses will Create a Patient Safety Crisis
 
Registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek are holding an informational picket Tuesday, August 23, to protest chronic unsafe nurse-to-patient staffing levels, that they say are jeopardizing patient safety at the facility, the California Nurses Association announced today.
 
RNs  have filed 600 separate incidents of unsafe care over the last year and a half which have been largely disregarded by hospital management. Instead, hospital management has announced lay-offs of direct care RNs in nursing departments throughout the hospital. KWC management announced plans to eliminate 26.4 full time equivalent registered nurses which is equivalent to 44 24-hour employees or 33 32-hour employees.
 
“The reductions in core nursing staff  is entirely unacceptable considering the inadequate, unsafe staffing we have experienced throughout the KWC facility for over one year,” said Beckie Seitz, RN, a  member of the CNA  bargaining committee in an August 11 letter signed by the entire team. “What is most abhorrent is these reductions are coming on the heels of a record number of reports to the employer of unsafe, inadequate staffing occurrences
 
What: RN Informational Picket  
When: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Time: 8:00am-11:00am
Where: Kaiser Permanente, Walnut Creek
1425 South Main, Walnut Creek  
 
“We feel it is our duty and obligation to warn the public that care at our facility is inadequate and unsafe,” said Jenny Bacon, an RN and member of the CNA bargaining. “KWC’s  plan to eliminate core nursing positions is flawed and ultimately endangers our patients. It is our position that Kaiser must hire additional RNs, not fire them. Patients are facing neglect and harm daily, and our nursing licenses are in constant jeopardy. The situation is intolerable.”