Parties to meet today to iron out staffing problems at hospitals

In a lawsuit, Mountain State Justice, a nonprofit law firm representing patients at both hospitals, alleged that staffing shortages weaken the quality of care at both hospitals.

The judge also ordered the DHHR to consult the petitioners while developing the plan, giving both parties a chance to come up with a workable agreement, according to Lydia Milnes, an attorney for Mountain State Justice.

The two parties are scheduled to appear before the judge again on June 11.

At that hearing, the judge either could accept a compromise plan or issue his own, Milnes said.

“Quite frankly, from DHHR’s perspective, they should be a little worried about him issuing a ruling, because he’ll probably just tell them to come up with a whole lot of money, and that’s always hard for them,” she said.

The judge found that the DHHR is in violation of an agreed order in 2009 that required the DHHR to increase pay, stop mandatory overtime and use full-time employees except in “exceptional and infrequent contexts,” according to Milnes.

Allison Adler, state DHHR spokeswoman, said she couldn’t talk about legal matters, so she couldn’t predict any changes the plan could include, but did say that the DHHR had begun working on it.

Adler also provided updated vacancy numbers for both hospitals.

As of April 30, Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital had 39 vacancies out of 393 full-time equivalent positions — an approximately 10 percent vacancy rate.

Sharpe Hospital had 54 vacancies out of 456 positions, or an approximate 12.5 percent vacancy rate.

Vacancy rates at that level can damage employee morale, as well as prevent patients from receiving a type of care called community integration — a state-mandated right for patients receiving mental health care, according to Milnes.

The hospitals lack enough staff members to escort patients for trips into the community, Milnes said.

“The whole point is that patients aren’t supposed to live for the rest of their lives at the hospital,” she said. “They’re supposed to be able to return to the community to live. The idea is to enable someone to transfer back into the community. They need to be getting back into the community and doing things like going shopping or going to church. The hospital has to make sure they have enough staff to provide that.”

Milnes said the DHHR did raise pay for nurses since 2009, but the pay scale for health- service workers hasn’t seen any increase.

“They’re the ones who have the highest number of vacancies, the highest number of overtime hours, and seem to get paid what we think is below the market wage for that position,” she said.

Staff writer Erin Beck can be reached at (304)626-1439 or by email at ebeck@theet.com