Brant Community Healthcare System Receives Panel’s Report

Brantford, ON – The Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS) has recently received an Independent Assessment Committee (IAC) report as it relates to nursing concerns in the Brantford General Hospital (BGH) Emergency Department (ED).

The IAC report is a result of the three-day hearing in March 2024, that was completed under the Provincial Collective Agreement between BCHS and the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA). The IAC consisted of a panel of three independent Registered Nurse (RN) experts who assessed and analyzed the professional responsibility and workload issues raised by ED nurses at BGH. The report was released May 5, 2024. This process started a few years ago, and since that time, BCHS leadership has worked with the ED nurses and implemented several strategies to resolve many of the concerns. Specifically, through conversations with ED nurses and ONA, 33 recommendations were generated and BCHS resolved 32, or 97%, of them. Based on those earlier results, we are confident that we will continue to address challenges related to staff safety and patient care The one outstanding recommendation regarding staffing was addressed at the IAC review

The IAC report provided specific recommendations across six key areas, including:

1.Staffing,

2.Skill Mix/Novice Staffing & Education,

3.Processes,

4.Environment,

5.Leadership, and

6.Healthy Work Environment

Of the recommendations that the IAC provided, 62 of the 101 recommendations, or 61%, are in progress. The remaining recommendations will be discussed and reviewed in detail The IAC report recognized the efforts of the work underway by BCHS and in these efforts.

Specifically, within the staffing section, there were four position recommendations, of which three are net new and one which is already in place Other key items highlighted in the IAC report acknowledged that the current ED clinical managers provide open communications and transformational leadership, and several of the environmental issues are being addressed through the current renovations.

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