Staff shortages forces 1-day cancellation of blood collection appointments at Waterford Hospital
A one-day cancellation of blood collection appointments at a St. John's hospital Tuesday didn't come as a shock to union president Jerry Earle, who said it's just another symptom of an already ailing system.
Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, or NAPE, said health-care professionals and their unions have been sounding the alarm over a lack of health-care resources for several years now.
"We wish that seven, eight years ago, people would've listened to the outcry from health-care workers saying we have a problem," said Earle. "But it was denied then."
The Waterford Hospital's outpatient blood collection appointments were cancelled Tuesday due to "current human resource challenges," said Eastern Health in a press release.
Patients requiring urgent blood work were directed to St. Clare's Mercy Hospital, and Eastern Health told people whose appointments were cancelled to rebook through an online appointment booking system.
Earle says the St. John's metro region is short 10 lab assistant positions. So if some employees call in sick, Earle said, the work falls on the few who remain in the system.
In this particular case, Earle said the Waterford Hospital is already operating below capacity so with no call-back staff able to fill in for sick staff, a critical service that many rely on was unable to function.
"Every health-care provider, every health-care professional plays a critical role in our health-care system," said Earle. "And so there's always a ripple down effect when we have a shortage or in this case, where we have no staff."
Health-care workers under 'immense pressure'
Earle says the entire health-care system functions like a chain — when one of its links breaks, the chain can't hold together. So Tuesday's closure is indicative of what's been happening in hospitals across the province for a while now, he said.
There are a lot of employees, like lab assistants, whom people rely on to provide critical services every day, says Earle. He says these employees are facing not only stress and pressure, but illness as well.
Unfortunately, Earle said, that means other employees, already overburdened, have to pick up the slack.
"They are under immense pressure," said Earle.
"We have many health-care workers, medical lab assistants included, that are at the point of sheer exhaustion, burnout, becoming ill themselves … and they're quite distraught that they cannot continue to provide the services necessary."
