Brigham and Women’s CNO stepping down after averted nursing strike

Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is leaving the position Oct. 1, according to the Boston Business Journal (BBJ).

The announcement of her departure comes less than a month after the hospital avoided what would have been the city’s first nursing strike in 30 years, when the Massachusetts Nurses Association ratified a tentative agreement to avert the one-day walkout.

Somerville, who has also served as the hospital’s CNO and senior vice president of patient care services since 2011, will focus on “opportunities in academia and consulting," according to a memo from hospital administratiors.

“We continue to develop the plan for interim leadership for nursing and patient care services and will communicate this in the near future,” wrote Brigham and Women's President Betsy Nabel, MD, and COO and Executive Vice President Ron Walls, MD.

The hospital hopes to begin a national search, aiming to select Somerville’s replacement by the end of the year.

Her departure coincides with a negative financial report from Brigham. BBJ said the hospital’s owner, Partners Healthcare, reported a $33 million operating loss in the second quarter of 2016. Some of those losses stem directly from threat of nurses striking: Partners said it spent about $8 million preparing for the averted strike and lost another $16 million in revenue by scaling back to 60 percent capacity in the week before the scheduled walkout.

The health system, the largest in Massachusetts, remains profitable for the year, with the second quarter report reducing operating income for 2016 to $1.1 million, down from $86.3 million for the first half of 2015.