Kaiser mental health workers strike, claim hiring freeze
Nearly 2,600 workers are expected to picket by the end of the week.
Kaiser mental health workers picket in California on Jan. 13, 2015 (image courtesy of Ventura County Star)
Hundreds of healthcare workers at California’s Kaiser Permanente facilities walked off the job this week, striking over a lack of staffing by the hospital operator that they say is affecting care for mentally ill patients. More than 2,600 workers are expected to strike by the end of the week.
Kaiser, however, has said that its mental health services are routinely lauded by the state, and that it has indeed hired therapists, with plans to hire more.
Picketing workers included therapists and psychiatric nurses, and picketers gathered in front of at least 10 Kaiser hospitals on Tuesday, carrying signs that called out Kaiser with slogans like “Mental Health NOT Corporate Wealth.”
The strike is organized by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents Kaiser’s mental health workers, and led by union president Sal Rosselli.
California fined Kaiser $4 million in September for issues stemming from its mental health services, including unusually long wait lists for care, failing to educate patients accurately about their health issues and even dissuading them from receiving care. But Rosselli, in a blog post in Huffington Post, said Kaiser still hasn’t staffed its mental health division to improve the issues that cost them such a significant fine, but has instead moved resources around, not fixing the issue.
“After an initial appointment for diagnosis, Kaiser patients are forced to wait weeks or months for follow-up appointments, making consistent, effective treatment difficult if not impossible,” he wrote.
Kaiser said that’s not true. In a post on the company’s website aiming to debunk union claims, Kaiser said it has hired more than 250 therapists in the past three years.
“From 2011 to early 2014, Kaiser Permanente increased its number of therapists in the state by 25 percent, from 1,105 in 2011 to 1,378 in early 2014,” the company wrote. Kaiser also said the $4 million fine took issues with organization practices but not the quality of care that patients in the mental health centers received.
The mental health worker strike may just be the beginning for Kaiser, as about 18,000 nurses and nurse practitioners are expected to strike across California next week over cuts in their departments.
According to Kaiser, the company will not close any facilities during the mental health workers strike, but may need to reschedule appointments for nonurgent care or elective procedures.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly
