Planned One-Day Nurses Strike Prompts San Francisco Hospital to Close for New Patients
San Francisco-based St. Luke's Hospital yesterday closed its doors to new patients and will not reopen until after a one-day nurses strike scheduled for July 17, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The California Nurses Association, which represents the nurses at St. Luke's, informed the hospital about the planned strike on Saturday. "It is our position that we would be unable to deliver the level of quality that our patients have come to expect with fly-in nurses who are unfamiliar with our city, our patients and our mission," Jack Fries, the hospital's president and CEO, said. CNA spokesperson Charles Idelson said, "There is no reason they need to close 10 days before a strike." Negotiations between the union and the hospital will resume today, the Chronicle reports (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/8). Nurses at several Bay Area hospitals last week authorized the one-day strike if negotiations with hospital representatives fail to reach an agreement on several issues, including pensions, retiree health benefits, nurse-to-patient ratios and salaries (California Healthline, 7/5).
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