Nurses raise concerns over staff cuts at Baystate Franklin

A group of nurses at Baystate Franklin have filed a formal complaint with the State Department of Public Health after another round of staffing cuts at their hospital. 22 News reporter Claire Overton went to Greenfield today and joins us now after hearing those challenges, Claire. And Ciara, that's exactly what it's becoming for these nurses. A new challenge after a position which they call essential was cut back. This is really minor for a corporation as large as Baystate Health and there's really no reason that we should still be out here on the sidewalk when we could all be inside working. Baystate Franklin nurses, part of the Mass Nurses Association, voicing their concerns after recent cuts to their staff, including the elimination of transport services in the evenings, something they call essential members of their team. Baystate Health sending 22 News a statement saying they have adjusted the hours of transport services to be consistent with the operating hours at our other two community hospitals, Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Wing Hospital. Further saying the change will allow them to maximize our dedicated patient transport resources and leverage support staff for safe care. The nurses are now bringing their patients places. That's all well and good, but when you've got your name on five, six, maybe seven people that you're caring for, it can be hard to find time to get people to their appointments. The nurses want to reiterate that this is not only impacting their jobs and workload on the job, but it's also directly impacting patient care. They move patients safely through the hospital. They assist during emergencies. They ensure critical equipment and supplies are reached when they're needed. Contract negotiations have been going on for 11 months with Baystate Health, and while they say there has been compromises on both sides to take steps forward, cuts like these are only adding another challenge for the nurses. And aside from the five different rounds of cuts in the Baystate Health network, the nurses have been pushing for a number of different things in their contract negotiations. That's right, and they brought up a number of those today when they were announcing all of their frustrations here. They said good health insurance for staff members is a problem, adequate on-call wages for those nurses that are working overtime, and also better staffing for admissions to get those patients into the care they need. All right, Claire, thank you.