Eldridge Adds To Demands For Hearing On Hospital's Bed Reduction

Marlborough MA

15 November, 2021

6:50 PM

Description

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Marlborough state Sen. Jamie Eldridge has joined other local lawmakers in asking state officials to hold a hearing about why St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester closed about 100 patient beds in August amid a nurses strike. In a letter released Monday, Eldridge asked Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders for an emergency hearing about the bed closures. Eldridge's letter adds to similar recent calls from Worcester state Reps. Mary Keefe and David LeBoeuf for a hearing on the closures. Nurses at St. Vincent went on strike in March and remain on the picket line today. The hospital announced the bed closures on July 28 saying they were necessary "to maintain core healthcare services." The hospital closed about 100 beds, including 10 beds for psychiatric patients. "During a global pandemic, four months of service closures can no longer be considered'temporary,'" Eldridge's letter said. "Given the crisis our communities face, I am calling upon your office to require that St. Vincent's Hospital hold a Determination of Need (DoN) hearing so that the voices of those impacted by these reckless and profit-driven decisions can be heard." Eldridge's letter also says the bed closures have put stress on the wider healthcare network in central Massachusetts, including the UMass Memorial Health system, which operates Marlborough Hospital. St. Vincent leaders and executives at parent company Tenet Healthcare have reached an agreement with nurses. But nurses are still on a strike because of a dispute over a return-to-work agreement. St. Vincent has said many striking nurses will not be able to return to the jobs they had before the strike because the hospital has hired replacement nurses in the intervening months.