The union representing the Hampton VA hospital says hiring policies have made it more difficult to bring in new employees.
The union was told they could only fill vacancies at the local VA by hiring staff from other VAs in the region, said Sheila Elliott, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2328.
“So that means that we would take somebody else's RN, and then they would be without so that's why I call it robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said.
The Hampton VA is part of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 6, which covers the Mid-Atlantic region. The hiring policies were in place prior to new leadership taking over at the Hampton VA, Elliott said.
After a series of VA Inspector General's reports over several years pointed to problems with patient care and administration issues, former Hampton VA Executive Director Dr. Taquisa K. Simmons and other leaders were replaced. .
Former executive director of the Long Beach California VA, Walt Danneberg, was appointed as interim director at Hampton at the beginning of the month.
“I'm hoping that he will be able to work with us to ease some of these problems and smooth some things out,” Ellliot said.
Staff shortages have made it more difficult to honor existing requests for time off, leading to low morale among VA workers in Hampton Roads, she said.
National VA spokesman Terrence Hayes said there is no hiring freeze at any VA in the US. The vacancy rate at Hampton is 16%, which is down from 2023.
“After a record year of hiring in 2023, VA currently has the largest health care workforce in our history – and we are retaining those great employees at all-time record rates,” Hayes said.
Nationwide, the VA is facing up to a $15 billion deficit, after hiring 61,000 new people to handle an influx of new patients.
Following the passage of the PACT Act, the VA saw 410,000 veterans over the past year, according to the VA.
