Patients at UC Irvine Health are being forced to wait upwards of three months to access rehabilitation services as a result of turnover and staffing issues. These avoidable delays are the result of UCI’s failure to attract and retain specialists, and they can have serious impacts on patient outcomes. We have repeatedly asked management to take basic steps to staff up these crucial services, but they have failed to act.

Rehabilitation specialists are crucial members of the healthcare team.

UC Irvine is a regional and national referral center, and it serves a diverse range of patients from all backgrounds seeking care for various medical conditions. Occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and physical therapists all play a critical role in helping patients adapt and recover from illness or injury so they can go on living happy and meaningful lives.

Our work is a labor of love, but that doesn’t mean that we deserve to be taken advantage of by management at UC Irvine Health.

When UC Irvine doesn’t prioritize attracting and retaining skilled therapists to provide our services, it means delays in care for patients—and that can mean delays in recovery. Delays in care can lead to an increased risk of complications, the need for more extensive medical interventions like surgery or longer-term care, and can lead to permanent loss of function or even death.

What’s more important: UC Irvine’s bottom line or the ability of our patients, friends, and loved ones to return to a higher level of function and improved quality of life?