HOSPITAL STRIKE SPURS SURGERY CANCELLATIONS
By U-T and wire services
UC San Diego Health System said it will cancel about 90 percent of the elective surgeries scheduled at its Hillcrest and La Jolla hospitals when technical workers hold a two-day strike next week.
“The surgeries are in all specialty areas, including brain, cancer and spine procedures,” university spokeswoman Jacqueline Carr said in an email.
She said the specific number of procedures canceled was not immediately available.
Cancellations are also planned at the University of California’s other medical centers in Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, where the UC Davis Medical Center is located.
Emergency care will continue at all five medical centers, and patients already in hospitals will receive treatment.
The number of patients in the hospitals could drop by 25 percent during a strike, said John Stobo, UC’s senior vice president for health sciences and services.
UC officials are seeking an injunction to prevent the strike, scheduled to begin at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
The two sides are fighting over pensions and staffing levels. UC officials say the union has refused to accept a new pension plan, similar to those of other state workers, which requires more employee contributions and reduces long-term benefits for new hires. The union contends staffing has been reduced to dangerous levels.
The union representing the 13,000 nursing assistants, scanning techs, operating room scrubs and other health care workers said it will keep weekend-level staffing in critical areas.
“Our Emergency Department, Level 1 Trauma Center and Burn Unit will be open and not diverting patients,” Carr said.
Some strikers will go back to work if medical emergencies arise and return to the picket lines once the patients are treated.
“The most important thing here is that patient safety be preserved,” union spokesman Todd Stenhouse said.
UC officials said they would hire temporary replacement workers during a strike. That could cost at least $15 million in lost revenue and extra pay over two days. Carr estimated the cost at UCSD to be about $2 million.
The five medical centers serve about 2,400 inpatients on an average day, as well as outpatients for such treatments as chemotherapy.
Carr said the Moores Cancer Center, which is also part of the UC San Diego Health System, should be largely unaffected by the strike.
“A few patients needing non-urgent care, such as biopsies and needle aspirations, were rescheduled,” Carr said.
Staff writer Paul Sisson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Source]: UT San Diego
