Yesterday afternoon, the front of Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia became a stage for nearly 300 nurses and technicians voicing their concerns over staffing shortages. These healthcare professionals, who marched with signs, are calling for safer staffing levels and better benefits amidst ongoing contract negotiations with Temple Health, the hospital's new owner acquired in a partnership including Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Redeemer Health, as reported by WHYY.
The union, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), which workers voted to join last year, is at the center of these negotiations. “We have too many patients per nurse,” registered nurse Alyssa Afflerback told WHYY, “We’re understaffed and we’re stretching ourselves so thin every day when we come in here.” The issue of short staffing, she added, feels more acute with patient overflow from Temple Health's other facilities.
Temple Health, however, counters the picketing nurses' narrative. A spokesperson for Temple Health emphasized to the 6abc that Chestnut Hill Hospital employs more nurses today than before the pandemic and that they are actively recruiting to fill positions. The statement urged the caregivers to "come to the bargaining table," an invitation echoed in critiques against the union's approach — critiqued for negotiating "in the media rather than at the bargaining table," as per The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The implications of these staffing shortages stretch beyond labor disputes to impact patient care directly. Nurses on the hospital’s geriatric psychiatric ward reported staffing levels of just two nurses for up to 20 patients, a jarring reality that sharply contrasts Temple Health's assertion of adequate staffing ratios. Union officials also pointed out Chestnut Hill's 15 out of 100 ratings on staffing levels by Leapfrog, which Temple attributed to a lack of data due to IT transitions in a statement acquired by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
