With An Already Overcrowded Emergency Room And A Shuttered Psychiatric Unit, New York Presbyterian-Methodist Is Proposing To Cut Nurse Staffing Even Further

NYSNA nurses from New York Presbyterian-Brooklyn Methodist picket outside of the hospital in Park Slope on Thursday to call out attacks on safe staffing and quality care standards. After other private-sector hospitals in New York City settled fair contracts with nurses, NYP-Methodist is digging in their heels and proposing cuts to care for Brooklyn patients. Management wants to strip patient care protections from the NYSNA contract and reduce staffing levels in Labor and Delivery, Mother-Baby, Chemotherapy Infusion, and other units. Hospital bigwigs are also trying to roll back patient safety protections that ensure that there’s always a qualified nurse at the bedside of every patient. Meanwhile, NYP-Brooklyn Methodist continues to refuse to reopen an in-patient psychiatric unit Brooklyn patients depend on, leaving the emergency room overcrowded and patients without the care they need.

Diane Bonet, RN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, said “I love being a pediatric nurse, but understaffing throughout my hospital is so stressful. Now NYP-Brooklyn Methodist wants to cut nurse staffing even more and lower patient care standards. As hard as nurses work and as much as we care, we cannot meet a safe standard of care if our administration refuses to staff enough qualified, trained nurses in every unit of the hospital. Brooklyn patients deserve better.” Learn more from News 12 Bronx and Black Star News, and check out more photos of the rally on NYSNA's Twitter.