ALBANY, N.Y. May 6, 2021 — New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta issued the following statement today on the passage of safe staffing legislation for hospitals and nursing homes earlier this week:
“As NYSUT has advocated for years, safe staffing is about ensuring that hospital and nursing home patients have access to safe, high-quality and reliable health care across New York state. Safe staffing also will help improve working conditions for the dedicated health care professionals who go above and beyond every day. There is a clear connection between the amount of nurse staffing hours and the quality of care patients receive, with a growing body of evidence suggesting that as nurse-to-patient ratios increase, mortality, injury, infection and length-of-stay rates decrease. On behalf of more than 15,000 NYSUT members working in health care, we thank the Legislature for taking this major step toward improving care and working conditions in our health care facilities.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.