Nurses are sounding the alarm on a growing crisis inside the county’s largest psychiatric care facility, one they say is putting the health and safety of their patients at risk on a daily basis.
On Monday, local nurses joined county and state political leaders to call attention to chronic bed closures and staffing shortages at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.
Many of the hospital staff at the “Speak Out for Mental Health” news conference represented Pennsylvania's largest union of nurses and health care workers, SEIU HealthCare. The union is currently in negotiations to secure pay raises and better nurse-to-patient ratios.