Patient Safety a Top Priority for NUHW Members

NewsMarch 13, 2023

One of the primary reasons more than 16,000 members working on the front lines of healthcare have unionized with NUHW is to advocate for better standards of patient care and safety.

National Patient Safety Awareness Week, which starts March 12, calls attention to the need for improved safety in healthcare delivery. The World Health Organization estimates that the social cost of patient harm costs between one and two trillion dollars annually. This is unacceptable.

NUHW is committed to raising the bar. As our union grows, we continue to push for higher standards, better equipment, better safety protocols, and improved staffing in our contract campaigns.

In the past year alone, our members made important strides in patient protections.

Thousands of behavioral health workers helped pass landmark legislation to ensure Kaiser Permanente provides timely access to mental health care, even hosting the longest mental health strike in national history.

Hundreds of hospital workers sounded the alarm at Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center when high turnover began to impact the quality and consistency of care patients received prompting an investigation by the California Department of Public Health.

Members also fought to improve standards at virtually every other hospital, clinic, nursing home, and county jail where our members serve the needs of their patients.

Health care is a human right. It’s imperative for healthcare corporations to prioritize patients over profits.