United Nurses of Alberta Raises Concerns About AHS Plan to Cut Overtime

The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), which represents registered nurses in the province, says it is “extremely concerned” by Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) plan to cut use of overtime and agency staffing by 10%.

In a memorandum from AHS acting Chief Financial Officer Michael Lam, it is stated that AHS is forecasting a deficit for its 2023-24 fiscal year. “This is largely due to increased vacancies and unplanned absences (e.g. sick leave), both of which result in increased costs and overtime”, said the memo

The memo outlines four strategies AHS wants senior managers to implement immediately. The strategies include: “approval by a vice-president or executive leadership team to recruit to any vacant position, except for existing non-management positions in clinically-focused portfolios (Clinical Operations, Cancer Care Alberta and Clinical Support Services, Provincial Addiction and Mental Health and Correctional Health Services, areas within Provincial Clinical Excellence.”

“An end to discretionary spending such as travel outside Alberta, travel within Alberta for non-clinical purposes, purchases of non-clinically required minor equipment and so on; portfolios with positive variances from their budget must maintain or increase these variances for the remainder of the fiscal year.”

Lastly, all non-clinical overtime requires executive approval and all areas of AHS are asked to monitor and implement strategies to reduce the use of overtime and agency staffing in their areas by at least 10 per cent, while minimizing impacts to frontline service delivery.

UNA president, Heather Smith said in a statement that “it’s all very well to talk about minimizing impacts to front-line services, but this simply cannot be done while cutting emergency staffing and overtime by 10 per cent.”

“This is a prescription for driving nurses and other health care workers out of the province and out of the profession. This is absolutely contrary to what the government says it intends to do to encourage front-line health care services in Alberta”, said Smith.

Visit www.africanpridemagazine.com for more