The strike by Kaiser Permanente mental health workers is in its fifth week. On Friday, the union filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health alleging patient care violations due to understaffing.
Elizabeth Meza, a hospice clinical social worker with Kaiser San Diego for 14 years, said she is concerned about the impact the strike is having on patients and their families.
"I find myself just wondering how are our patients and families? How are they coping? How are they doing and wondering who has passed away? Who's who's gone without, you know, any psychosocial support or intervention?" Meza said.
The union's complaint claims that understaffing during the strike has left hospice patients without essential emotional and psychological support, and in some cases, delayed pain management.
Ciara Keegan, a researcher with the National Union of Healthcare Workers, said a Kaiser San Diego nurse brought some of the allegations to the union.
"Patients were reporting pain to the medical social worker, the replacement worker, and that social worker was documenting the pain and charging that they would notify the nurse to address the pain, telling the patient that they would notify the nurse and would get their pain managed and then never following up," Keegan said.
The union also alleges that Kaiser has reduced staff levels at Kaiser Hospice San Diego from five medical social workers to two, violating Medicare regulations that mandate certain staffing requirements for certified hospice agencies. Keegan said that while the replacement workers are licensed social workers, many lack hospice-specific training, disrupting the continuity of care for both patients and their families.
For Meza, this situation is troubling.
"It's impossible for them to do the job of five, full-time staff that was already stretched to the limit," she said.
Kaiser Permanente was contacted for comment but did not provide an immediate response.
In the interest of disclosure, Kaiser Permanente is a KPBS underwriter.
