CUPE News Release – Licensed Practical Nurses deserve recognition and respect

CUPE Health Care Council letter to Licensed Practical Nurses – LPNs deserve workplace respect

I am writing to let you know that over the next few weeks the CUPE Saskatchewan Health Care Council will be conducting a survey on scope of practice for Licensed Practical Nurses.

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This week is National Nursing Week, May 12 to 18, 2014. It is an important time to recognize the tremendous work that CUPE members every day do to deliver high quality patient care as part of the nursing team.

The Saskatchewan government has proclaimed May 13th Licensed Practical Nurses day, and May 12th Continuing Care Assistant Day.

CUPE strongly supports multidisciplinary teamwork and full utilization of all team members' skills and training.

CUPE would like to thank all of our members for the tremendous work they do to deliver high quality public health care.

• National President - Paul Moist Letter
• CUPE LPNs
• Continuing Care Assistant Day

CUPE LPNS are skilled and caring professionals who provide hand-on nursing care to families across the province.

CUPE has been a long advocate for ensuring all LPNS are able to work to full scope, and are a respected part of the nursing team.

On May 12th, we launched a provincial public awareness campaign to promote the role of LPNs on the nursing team. This campaign features billboards and newspaper ads in communities across Saskatchewan. In addition, the Health Council LPN Committee has created posters and fact sheets to post in workplaces, and have produced LPN pins to show our pride in the workplace.

So thanks for all the work you do, today and everyday. CUPE will continue to fight for a public health care system that allows for every team member to engage fully in providing high quality care.

• CUPE LPN Ad
• LPN Scope
• LPN History

Saskatchewan Licensed Practical Nurses share their stories about the services they provide and their desire to use their full training and abilities to provide quality patient care. LPNs are a critical component of the nursing team. They work hand in hand with many other health professionals to deliver the quality care that the public expects and deserves. In many instances the work LPNs do is the same work done by other professionals. The overlap of skills and abilities is necessary for true collaboration is a long-time goal of Licensed Practical Nurses.

Licensed Practical Nurses are a critical component of the nursing team.

They work hand in hand with many other health care professionals to deliver the quality care that the public expect and deserve. In many instances the work they do is the same as the work other professionals do. The overlap of skills and abilities is necessary for true collaboration and true collaboration is a goal Practical Nurses have long fought to attain. The right to use all of their skills is another long-waged fight and the CUPE Health Care Council Licensed Practical Nurses Committee has been there every step of the way working tirelessly on behalf of all LPNs in the province and those they care for.

In 2003 CUPE conducted a survey in the five health regions where LPNs are represented by CUPE to find out just how wide-ranging the scope of practice issue is and how many LPNs truly practice to their full scope. The results were used to produce a report which was the basis of meetings with CEOs in all five regions and news conferences so educate the public on the issue. CUPE also produced a video titled, "The Health Care Journey: Utilizing Licensed Practical Nurses to Full Scope of Practice."

CUPE COMMUNIQUÉ

REGINA:  According to the report Regulated Nurses: Canadian Trends 2007 – 2011, released last week by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), licensed practical nurses in Saskatchewan are more likely to work in acute care than their Canadian counterparts. The report found that 60.9 per cent of LPNs work in Saskatchewan hospitals compared to 42.9 per cent of LPNs across Canada.

One in five nurses in Saskatchewan are LPNs and 98.6 per cent work in direct patient care, compared to 90 per cent of RNs in the province.

The nursing workforce in Saskatchewan grew by 13.2 per cent in the last five years, but the number of licensed practical nurses increased by 17.8 per cent.

The new information on the nursing workforce is contained in a publication from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Check it out at: www.cihi.ca.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) represents 1,585 Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) in five health regions in Saskatchewan. For years, CUPE has provided strong representation for our members in the nursing profession.

Bargaining for better pay and benefits

Licensed Practical Nurses have benefitted from the historic bargaining gains CUPE has made over the years. Some of the gains over the last two decades include:

• The merger of collective agreements for acute and long term care, ensuring common working conditions and benefits.
• The implementation of joint job evaluation.
• The creation of a Provincial Employment Strategy Committee that funds upgrading and retraining.
• Portability of benefits within CUPE health regions if a health care worker changes employers.
• Improvements to pension plan funding and the creation of a jointly trusteed pension plan in 2003 so that workers don't retire in poverty.
• Paid family illness days.
• Language to address workload.
• Significant wage increases as a result of the joint job evaluation plan.
• Protection of bargaining unit work.

CUPE's Licensed Practical Nurse Committee presented a slide show about the many initiatives undertaken on behalf of LPNs in our province. The work towards full scope of practice has been ongoing and hopefully will someday end with all LPNs in province, about half of them CUPE members, being able to do all the things they've been trained to do.

The LPN committee requested changes to our collective agreement to address issues specific to LPNs. Many members have furthered their careers by taking more or specialized training. Much of this training was paid for through the CUPE-negotiated Provincial Employment Strategy Fund, something the LPN committee actively promotes.

The committee's presentation shared work done on behalf of LPNs over the past 13 or 14 years. CUPE research developed several briefs highlighting some of the problems with not being able to work to full scope. 

These briefs were developed through conversations with LPNs in all of the health districts. The LPN Committee presented the brief to boards of 18 health districts and also to the Ministry of Health, for the first time on May 12, 1999.

Meadow Lake Progress, 
Thu Jul 19 2012 
Page: 2 
Section: News 
Byline: RICHARD MCGUIRE, MEADOW LAKE PROGRESS

The local health region is looking into the way it uses Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to see whether there is consistency within the region and whether nurses are able to work to the extent their training allows.

David Fan, CEO of Prairie North Health Region (PNHR) made a commitment to examine standardization of LPN practice following a recent presentation by the union representing the nurses.

Brian Manegre, president of CUPE Local 5111 and Val Spencer, an LPN in Turtleford, spoke at the PNHR's board meeting June 27 in North Battleford about a report suggesting the skills of LPNs are underused.

The report titled Full Utilization of Licensed Practical Nurses: A Practical Solution to the Nursing Shortage says a 2010 survey of LPNs found that only half of employers in the province fully use the nursing skills of the LPNs.
"This is like training journeyman plumbers, but only allowing them to fix leaky faucets," the report by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says.