Northampton County’s Gracedale Nursing Home – hit hard by retirements, resignations and terminations since the pandemic – has had to rely on outside medical staffing agencies to care for its hundreds of residents, at a steep cost.
In an effort to try to save millions of dollars, the country administration is taking greater control over the outside nurses. But that effort has failed to quell criticisms of Gracedale’s operations and oversight, and is fostering new concern among some over what it means to county-employed nurses.
In a memo sent last month to “All Agency Clinicians,” Gracedale Administrator Michelle Morton said the county is centralizing its nursing pool staff via a “priority resource pool.” The memo, which was reviewed by The Morning Call, says Gracedale administrators have notified agency nurses who have worked 500 hours or more that they must transition to using the pool to continue working there…