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Hamilton nurses are logging excessive overtime. Advocates say it’s ‘unreasonable,’ ‘unsustainable’ and ‘dangerous’ for patients and workers
Posted: May 9, 2025
(May 9, 2025)
By: Joanna Frketich, The Hamilton Spectator
One Hamilton hospital nurse worked 24 hours straight.
Another worked the equivalent of nearly 63 hours a week for an entire year.
Three nurses worked so many hours that it added up to more than one and a half full-time jobs each.
The increasing amount of excessive overtime logged at Hamilton’s understaffed hospitals since the pandemic is deeply disturbing to unions and patient advocates, who question why there are no limits to how many hours a nurse can work.
“It’s dangerous,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, which is an advocacy group.
“That is completely unreasonable and unsafe for the worker and for the patients,” Mehra said. “It means more accidents and injuries. It means more medical errors. Who wants to be the patient who’s being treated on the 50th hour of that person’s work week when they’re exhausted?”
“We’re not supposed to be driving their bodies into the ground to provide health care for people,” Mehra said. “It is unsustainable. Nursing is a job where you are on your feet, working physically, working all the time. It’s a very tough job.”
This is a snippet of the full article. Click here for the original, paywalled article
