Union nurses from Worcester, Mass.-UMass Memorial Health Care have sent a letter to administrators protesting staffing cuts that they call "degrading" to the quality of care provided in the system's facilities.
The nurses are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United. Nurses also rallied outside UMass' headquarters on Thursday to call on administrators to reverse or rescind plans to cut staff and eliminate or consolidate services, "plans we nurses believe are degrading the quality and safety of care for every patient entering the UMass Memorial/Health Alliance system," according to the letter.
The letter is addressed to Eric Dickson, MD, the CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care.
UMass has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs: The system cut 40 employees in December 2013 and eliminated 99 other positions, including clinical staff, in January. In 2013, the system posted an operating loss of about $57 million.
In a statement to the Boston Business Journal, hospital officials said "we are committed to maintaining appropriate staffing levels to provide the high level of care that our patients need, expect and deserve every day."
In addition to the rally and the letter to Dr. Dickson, the union nurses plan to take out ads in local papers and meet with public officials about the staffing issues.