(NEW YORK CITY) – Health Care Workers across the State - including Members of the Communications of Workers (CWA) District 1, 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Healthcare Workers East and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), have submitted complaints detailing more than 23,000 separate violations of hospitals’ clinical staffing plans to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) from medical facilities across the State. 

This action comes almost four years following the passage of the 2021 Clinical Staffing Committee Law.

The significant number of complaints demonstrates the continuation and breadth of the Statewide staffing crisis, the Unions said.

Studies show short staffing is a main driver of the Health Care Workforce emergency. 

The clinical staffing plans dictate the number of patients that can be assigned to Registered Nurses (RNs) and Ancillary Staff for each Unit and each shift.

These plans were negotiated by the Hospitals’ Staffing Committees, made up of Front Line Health Care Workers and management, which is required by the 2021 Clinical Staffing Committee Law.

The plans, which are essential to ensuring safe staffing levels and quality patient care across all New York hospitals, went into effect beginning in January 2023.

Violations reported to the NYSDOH include:

• Out of the total number of complaints, approximately 10% occurred in Intensive Care Units, which care for the most critical and sickest patients. In one instance, Registered Nurses (RNs) report being assigned four patients each, which threatened patient care, meant the Charge RN had to take assignment and prevented any Staff from taking their meal or rest breaks. The ratio required by the law and necessary for adequate and safe care is 1:2 for critical and intensive care patients.
• On a Step-Down Unit - which provides care for patients who need more monitoring and attention than a typical medical-surgical floor, the staffing plan indicated one RN for three patients. However, multiple shifts had six patients for each RN, more than double the safe assignment. 
• On those same Units, Nursing Assistants who each can be assigned up to six patients had 14 patients each, more than double, meaning delays in essential patient care tasks like changing, bathing and cleaning.
• One Emergency Room, with the capacity to care for only 60 patients, had 97 patients. In order to meet the staffing plan, 25 RNs should have been present on the Unit, but there were only eight, meaning an additional 17 RNs were needed for this number of patients. There were only two Aides in the department, meaning they were responsible for 48 patients each.  

For years, State leaders and hospital management have raised the alarm on the shortage of Front Line Health Care Workers - however, they have neglected to do enough to address the workforces’ main concerns, including frequent inadequate staffing, Union Officials said.

Front Line Health Care Workers are being required to care for too many patients at once at the expense of patient safety and Worker morale, Union Officials said.

Research shows that understaffing is a main driver of turnover of Health Care Staff, as well as heavily linked to poor patient outcomes, they said.

To Continue Reading This Labor New Report, And Comments Made By CWA, 1199 SEIU and UFCW Leadership, Go To: CWA District 1 and 1199SEIU Demand Action from New York State Department of Health Over Hospital Staffing Crisis As Caregivers Submit over 23,000 Violations of State Staffing Law