Nurses' union slams proposed changes, job cuts at Clinton Hospital
(Updated Friday at 6:15 p.m.) A plan to consolidate two patient-care units at Clinton Hospital is meeting with opposition from the union that represents its nurses.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which represents the hospital’s registered nurses, said in a statement that 21 of its members received letters from the hospital last week saying the medical-surgical unit — which has 18 beds — and the special care unit — with nine beds — will be combined. The merged unit would have 18 beds, with the option to add up to three more, the MNA said.
That will cost 3.5 full-time-equivalent nursing jobs, the union said the nurses were told.
Clinton Hospital is part of the UMass Memorial Health Care network.
The changes, the union said, “represent the latest in a series of service closures and staff layoffs throughout the UMass system, which has resulted in a system-wide degradation in the quality and safety of patient care, resulting in UMass Memorial affiliated hospitals registering some of the highest rates of patient readmissions in the state.”
The union said 54 nurses work at the hospital.
However, Tony Berry, spokesman for UMass Memorial Health Care, said in a statement late Friday that the hospital anticipates there will be a "sufficient number of available positions" so that every nurse impacted by the consolidation of the units will remain employed.
"The consolidation of the ... units will allow ... Clinton Hospital to better meet the needs of its patients," the statement read. "The consolidation will have no effect on the number of licensed beds at Clinton Hospital, or on the high quality of care our patients have come to expect.
"Clinton Hospital, working in close partnership with its nursing staff, has been planning the consolidation of its medical-surgical and special care units for several months. Throughout this process, much work has been done to ensure an open dialogue" and giving the nurses a "meaningful voice" in helping determine the functions and physical space layout of the merged unit, the statement added.
Berry said the consolidation reorganizes the nurses' schedules on the unit "and the hospital and the MNA have agreed on a process to accomplish the reorganization with as little disruption as possible."
"We thank our nurses for their support and collaboration throughout this consolidation," Berry's statement read. "We value our employees and appreciate the high-quality care and professionalism they show our patients.”
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