A group of 22 nurses from Upstate University Hospital on Thursday departed the facility for Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island to help in caring for patients who have COVID-19. Most of the nurses will be at Stony Brook for two weeks, the hospital said. (Photo credit: zoeyadvertising.com)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Citing “ongoing staffing shortages,” Upstate University Hospital has reduced its number of available beds by 124 to “ensure patient to staff ratios are at the safest levels.”
The current number of staffed beds is 544, down from 668, a reduction of about 20 percent, Upstate said in a statement forwarded to CNYBJ.
To deal with the situation, Upstate says it is pursuing “aggressive” advertising for new staff and improving pay for extra work.
Upstate currently has 400 open nursing positions and a current total full time registered nurse workforce of 1,440.
Some of the worker shortage is due to staff being fired for not complying with the state vaccine mandate for health-care workers. Upstate University Hospital on Sept. 30 announced it suspended or fired about 113 employees for not getting the shot or an approved exemption.
Upstate says it has worked to advocate for enhanced overtime pay for nurses, which was announced in September, and vacation-day accruals have been extended through December 2022, meaning vacation days over a certain amount don’t have to be used this calendar year.
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