Island Health playing a "shell game" with CDMR

January 17, 2014

Island Health has now changed the name of its controversial staffing model, but BCNU can find no evidence of any significant fixes to the problems with CDMR (Care Delivery Model Redesign) in recent announcements.

Shell game: a method of deceiving or cheating someone, by moving things from one place to another in order to hide what you are doing (thefreedictionary.com)

Island Health claims to be addressing problems from its experiment - now dubbed the "Patient Care Model", or PCM - at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

But the numbers Island Health is using for nursing positions and vacancies changes every few months, so it's impossible to compare current numbers with those released in September. The union won't know the exact staffing numbers until the rotations are posted. There is no change to the April 23 implementation date for CDMR although care aides may be brought in sooner.

What's clear is there will still be a reduction in nursing positions and an increase in the number of care aides, so some nurses currently caring for 4 patients may soon be responsible for 8.

No matter what Island Health calls it, or how it tries to fudge the numbers, the fact remains that nurses are being replaced by care aides. It's the same old plan to save money on the backs of nurses and the patients they care for.

BCNU will continue to demand an end to CDMR and fight for safe staffing levels and safe patient care.

Please contact your steward if you have any questions.