Horizon nurse job changes have been scrapped: Holt

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Planned changes to some nurses’ jobs in the Horizon Health Network have been abandoned, and no existing staff will be affected by efforts to transform the health system.

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Margaret Melanson, the Horizon president and CEO, made the comments to two reporters a few hours after Premier Susan Holt also revealed that the network’s proposed changes had been iced.

Instead of involving current staff in the changes, which was the original plan, new hires will be used, Melanson said.

“I have made the commitment today to our front-line staff, and I have another meeting forthcoming, where I will absolutely state that existing staff will not be impacted personally as we evolve the new system moving into the future,” she said.

The details of the now-abandoned plan were never clearly publicly explained, but it involved the reclassification of some nursing jobs in Public Health and mental health and addiction services.

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Speculation and rumours about the scope of the changes, including potential job cuts, have been running wild for months.

On Thursday morning, during a public online question-and-answer session where she tackled some topics submitted by New Brunswickers, Holt revealed the latest news.

Facing multiple questions about the health system, and Horizon’s plan, the premier began by apologizing to the registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and social workers who she said have faced stress and uncertainty because of the changes.

Nurses, Holt said, felt like Horizon was saying “that all RN positions, or in some cases, social work positions in addictions and mental health and positions in Public Health were going to be replaced by LPNs within a short period of time, and people received that communication, in most cases, virtually and without an opportunity to participate.”

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Holt then explained why she stepped in a couple of weeks ago, ordering the changes to be put on hold.

“What happened a few weeks ago was we directed Horizon to stop this work, because it was clear they weren’t moving in the direction that we’d asked them to: engaging the people delivering public health on the front lines, engaging the people delivering addictions and mental health on the front lines, and designing better ways of serving our population, with those people that see it first-hand and know it best.”

Then Holt revealed that Horizon’s plan isn’t going ahead as planned.

“Horizon has heard our direction and will not be moving forward with the plan to reclassify (some work currently done by) RNs to LPNs, or (from) social workers to LPNs, and is going to start the process of engaging with the folks on the front lines,” Holt said.

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That will allow everyone to “participate” in the process, she added, and allow Horizon to “get the benefit of (workers’) experiences around how can we deliver the best possible public health care for families, for kids, for patients, so that they can get in and out in an accessible way and get that proactive, preventative care that public health often delivers, and in a way that’s integrated with the changes to primary care that we’re trying to drive.”

Asked to react to Holt’s comments, Melanson said she agreed with the premier.

When asked to explain how talks with workers went so wrong, Melanson pointed to a communication breakdown between workers and managers at Public Health and mental health and addiction services.

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“What I would say is the leadership within Public Health, mental health and addictions, had begun what I understood to be consultations … during the winter and early spring. What I recognize now is that there was a disconnect from what the leadership had felt was occurring and what the teams were really understanding as not being fully engaged and fully involved, and so that’s what occurred. And so this is why I have directed the reset that is beginning today with these teams.”

Melanson also characterized what happened as “a misunderstanding.”

“I mean, never was there ever any intention that staff would be moved out of the organization. And so I believe the clarification today is that existing staff will remain, and they will participate in the new system of the future that will be evolving.”

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Melanson then said she wants “to absolutely support our staff,” adding that “existing staff will not be impacted with any changes that are undertaken.”

“The point, though, is that we need to evolve and re-create a system of the future, and we have to as stewards of the public health care system, ensure that we are utilizing the resources we have available to us as efficiently and effectively as possible before I am looking at increasing resources.

“We know that scopes of practice, professions have evolved over these past few years, and that is part of the planning toward the evolution of a patient-centered system that is going to be delivering improved access to the public of New Brunswick.”

More to come … 

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