Tel Hashomer Medical Center nurses abandon wards
Hospitals reported average ward occupancy of 109%, which is typical for the winter. Yet the overcrowding in some wards led Tel Hashomer Medical Center's Nurses Committee to direct the nurses to abandon three internal medicine wards that registered major overcrowding, leaving a skeleton staff in place in the wards.
This due to an agreement between the Histadrut and the nurses that states that a maximum of 115% occupancy is permitted. Each of the abandoned wards had 50 patients, even though regulations state that only 36 patients be allowed in each ward. (Neri Brenner)
