CUPE 5430 members continue to advocate for action on staffing and retention in health care

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Members of CUPE 5430 attended question period in the Saskatchewan Legislature on Thursday and spoke to media regarding staffing, communication, and patient safety concerns coming from the Interventional Radiology (IR) department at the Regina General Hospital (RGH). IR plays a critical role in emergency and complex care and is southern Saskatchewan’s primary trauma centre.

Out of 10 IR technologist positions only 4 are filled and 5 of 9 nursing positions in the department are also vacant. Retention and recruitment is a key concern as workers are facing burnout, exhaustion, and forced overtime. In a joint letter from SUN and CUPE 5430 members detailed threats to patient safety, unsustainable workload issues, and lack of communication from leadership.

“We choose these roles and this work because we care about people. Ultimately, I had to leave my role, a career I loved, because I couldn’t keep up with the excessive call hours and the workload,” stated Gerri Grant, a Radiologic Technologist. “This government talks about retention and recruitment but it feels like they aren’t matching that talk with action.”

“When we met with Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill a few weeks ago, I talked to him directly about the staffing and overtime concerns of this department. It is hard to hear the Minister now say he doesn’t know the details on this issue.” Said Dionne Wagner, CUPE 5430 Area Representative for Region 3. “We keep telling the Sask Party government what workers are saying and we aren’t going to stop until they address low wages, retention, and recruitment issues.”

These issues are being faced by health care workers in every role. On April 23rd , CUPE 5430 gathered hundreds of health care workers from across the province (Hundreds Rally at Saskatchewan Legislature to Demand Fair Wages for Health Care Workers – CUPE Local 5430 Health Care Union Saskatchewan). Last month, CUPE 5430 released the report Still Waiting: Report on the Workload of CUPE Medical Technologists and Technicians in Saskatchewan, (CUPE 5430 sounds the alarm on workload for Medical Technologists and Technicians – CUPE Local 5430 Health Care Union Saskatchewan).

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