Ulsan University Hospital Union “We must stop reducing the integrated nursing service ward”

Hospital side: “An essential medical coordination process to efficiently rearrange hospital beds.”

(Ulsan = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Geun-ju = Ulsan University Hospital Branch (Ulsan University Hospital Union), the Medical Solidarity Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Public Transport Workers' Union, said on the 9th, "The hospital should stop reducing the integrated nursing care service ward and restructuring its workforce."

The Ulsan University Hospital Union held a press conference at Ulsan City Hall on this day and claimed, “Ulsan University Hospital, which operates with hundreds of millions of won in surplus every year, is reducing field staff and destroying worker expertise under the pretext of reducing labor costs and management efficiency.”

According to the union, the number of nursing care integrated service wards at Ulsan University Hospital, which was 17 in 2021, will decrease every year and will be operated at 9 next year. Instead, the number of general wards is expected to increase to eight.

In the integrated nursing care service ward, the hospital also takes care of nursing services, which reduces the burden of nursing care on the patient's family. Instead, the hospital will need more manpower to provide nursing care, resulting in a burden on labor costs.

The Ulsan University Hospital Union claimed, “The hospital is trying to reduce the number of nurses, nursing assistants, and assistants in line with the reduction of the integrated nursing care ward,” and added, “Hospital personnel will have no choice but to suffer from job insecurity and patients will suffer from the burden of nursing care costs.”

The union also announced that the hospital is forcing nurses in the acute psychiatric ward to work as assistants and outsourcing the security team, while also establishing new performance bonuses and position allowances for managers.

The union said, “We demand an end to the reduction of integrated nursing care wards, maintenance of essential personnel in the wards, and withdrawal of outsourcing of security teams,” and added, “We will continue holding lunch rallies and propaganda campaigns.”

In response, Ulsan University Hospital said, "The reorganization of the integrated nursing care ward is an essential medical coordination process that efficiently rearranges hospital beds by reflecting the severity of patients and the characteristics of each disease in line with the government's policy direction and the establishment of a treatment system centered on serious and emergency patients at tertiary general hospitals." They added, "The union is making one-sided claims without sufficiently reflecting the purpose of the system promoted by the hospital."

He also added, “Forcing the fight while ignoring the union, even though the door of communication is open, is damaging the relationship of trust between labor and management and betraying the community’s expectations for the patient’s recovery.”