“Nurses and other health care workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs say its government hospitals are not prepared to resume normal operations as regional plans roll out for reopening facilities and lifting coronavirus safety protocols.”
“Front-line healthcare workers have bristled at the Trump administration’s push toward getting back to more normal conditions. The pushback occurs as negotiations over employee compensation and benefits have stalled between Veterans Affairs leadership and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents VA nurses and doctors across the country.”
“VA’s reopening plan announced Thursday relies on local assessments of ‘conditions on the ground’ before non-emergency medical practices like elective surgeries can resume. Facilities will be required to continue COVID-19 safety measures while assessing ways to fully bring back services.”
“’A central planning solution for resuming regular operations makes no sense here because some areas of the country will take longer to recover, while other areas have seen minimal cases,’ said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. ‘That’s why we’re letting local conditions dictate our next steps…’”
“Still, government health care workers across the country continue to demand ‘universal testing,’ broad grants of paid leave and hazard pay for those on the front lines…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA health care workers sound alarms over hospital reopening plans – By Quinn Owen, May 11, 2020. ABC News.
