A suspended Kings County Hospital nurse is back at work as the union presses on staffing. In March, H+H told the Council it was 'okay on staffing'
Health + Hospitals had accused a union officer of pulling nurses off their posts; she denies it and returned Monday with back pay. A Council bill asking for a citywide nurse staffing plan has waited 278 days.
A Kings County Hospital Center nurse practitioner suspended three weeks ago by NYC Health + Hospitals returned to work Monday with full back pay, after the public hospital system apparently set aside its misconduct investigation, THE CITY reported. H+H suspended the nurse, an intensive care unit practitioner who is vice president of the hospital's local nurses' bargaining unit, on Oct. 9. It alleged that on Oct. 6 she had pulled as many as 10 nurses from their posts for a union meeting. She denies it, saying she was following up on reports of nurses being "floated" between units to cover shortages, a practice union officers call rounding.
The New York State Nurses Association filed a complaint with the state labor board on Oct. 22, THE CITY reported. H+H did not respond to the outlet's questions about its investigation. Union officials said they would keep pressing hospital leadership on staffing.
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Why it matters to residents: Kings County is part of H+H, the public system that the nurses association told the Council accounts for nearly 20% of the city's inpatient beds and a disproportionate share of care for Medicaid patients and uninsured residents (2:52:32). Nurse staffing was also at the center of last winter's weekslong strike by about 15,000 nurses at three private hospital systems, according to THE CITY.
What our records add
H+H's president told the Council staffing was fine. At the Hospitals Committee's March 16 budget hearing, H+H President Dr. Mitchell Katz said, "right now, we're okay on staffing" (1:45:37), and called safety for nurses "a huge issue" without a simple answer. He said vacancy rates were very low and that he wanted city nurses' raises to track those won by private-sector nurses. Later, a committee member noted that H+H added 186 registered nurse positions between the end of fiscal 2025 and the middle of fiscal 2026. Katz said H+H now has staffing plans for all of its units and is "at our correct level," and that more nurses would be needed only as services grow (2:35:45).
The union told the same hearing it wanted more protections. In public testimony, the nurses association said Council pressure had helped push the city to address chronically low pay that had caused poor staffing and reliance on expensive temporary nurses, and that recent contracts had brought public-hospital pay close to private-sector levels. It asked the Council to consider extending sick leave protections to public hospital employees (2:55:13).
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A staffing-plan bill has not had a hearing. Int. 330, from Mercedes Narcisse, would require the Health Department, with H+H and nurses at city hospitals, to prepare a plan to improve hospital nurse staffing, including a suggested safe nurse-to-patient ratio, according to its summary. Its sponsors are Narcisse, Crystal Hudson, Farah N. Louis and Gale A. Brewer. It was introduced Jan. 29 and has waited 278 days in the Committee on Hospitals. The summary, carried over from an earlier session, still lists a Jan. 1, 2024, report deadline that would have to be updated.
What's next
No Hospitals Committee hearing on nurse staffing is scheduled. The union's complaint to the state labor board was filed Oct. 22, according to THE CITY. The Council next meets Nov. 12.