NUHW members at Kindred Hospital–San Francisco Bay Area in San Leandro have long faced staffing shortages that leave patients waiting to long for care.
Approximately 247 union workers, including nurses, medical techs, and therapists, signed petitions, marched on the boss, and did sticker-ups to urge management to address the issue. However, the Kindred Healthcare hospital’s administration refused to listen.
So last year, went straight to state regulators with evidence about the hospital’s dangerously low staffing levels. Over several months, they compiled more than 100 pages of documentation showing that registered nurses were kept out-of-ratio and respiratory therapists and certified nursing assistants were understaffed in violation of California’s Title 22, which regulates health and safety standards for hospitals.
On July 26, 2024, a nurse reported that the second, third, and fourth floors were understaffed, forcing nurses to care for six patients each, exceeding ratios. On a separate occasion nurses reported that they lacked enough nursing assistants and support staff, forcing them to take on those roles and making work unsafe.
Workers also noted that the hospital, specializing in pulmonary care with many patients on ventilators or respiratory therapy, went three months without Respiratory Staffing Guidelines. When the guidelines were finally posted, administrators often didn’t follow them. Respiratory therapists were regularly understaffed and had to perform concurrent therapies, or “stacking,” which the California Society for Respiratory Care calls “unethical, unsafe, and unconscionable.”
“They assign 750 minutes of work during a 690-minute shift,” said Respiratory Therapist Krunal Doshi, who has been with the facility since November 2023. “As a result, we often have to cut corners, and there are patients who don’t get seen on time.”
Doshi added that he and his colleagues frequently have to work through their breaks and don’t have time to make required notes in patient charts. “We are under constant stress. We don’t have time to think for our patients or ourselves,” he said.
In November 2024, workers submitted a formal complaint to the California Department of Public Health with this information, urging the agency to conduct its own investigation and tighten enforcement against the hospital for these violations.
Last month, the agency began investigating these issues, uncovering substantial evidence of severe understaffing and other concerns at the hospital. The results of the full inquiry have not yet been disclosed.
Doshi hopes that the state investigation results in positive staffing changes, but said it will take some serious arm-twisting to get Kindred to improve the situation.
“The state would have to be there in-house watching them to make sure they comply,” he said. “Or find a way for us to report when we’re out of compliance and they take enforcement action immediately.”
