
UVa Hospital
by James C. Sherlock
One of the most important responsibilities of Virginia state government is to inspect medical facilities and home care providers to ensure we are safe when we enter their care.
It continues to fail in that responsibility thanks to years of Virginia budgets that have consciously ignored the need for increased inspector staff and increased salaries with which to competitively hire that staff.
I have reported for a long time that the staffing of the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Office of Licensing and Certification (OLC) is scandalously deficient. Based upon an update today from OLC, it remains so.
That organization has only half of the inspectors it needs to carry out its defined responsibilities.
Those highly skilled and very dedicated people, largely registered nurses, are asked to do every day for Virginians what we cannot do for ourselves and what our elected representatives have refused for decades to properly fund them to do.
Think of that next time you use the facilities and home providers they are required for your safety to inspect.
We hope the current General Assembly budget negotiators keep it in mind for themselves and their families.
Or the Governor sends the budget back until they do. Continue reading