CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Next month, a new Department of Veterans Affairs clinic is set to open off of Battlefield Boulevard, but local lawmakers are raising concerns about staffing levels.
Watch related: Fired Hampton VA employee reacts to judge’s order to have federal workers reinstated
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia) met with staff Wednesday at the soon-to-open facility, expressing apprehensions about staffing shortages.
They said that while the clinic is projected to operate with approximately 550 employees when fully staffed, it will open with only about 150.
“It’s going to open with a 25 to 30 percent staff but also with real chaos, creating real question marks around when you can completely fill up the staff. It is definitely not anything we can feel good about,” Kaine stated.
Upon its opening, the clinic will offer primary care and mental health services, with additional offerings expected as staffing levels improve.
“You have the building, but you can’t have a medical facility without the personnel,” Scott said.
This clinic is years in the making and is intended to provide veterans in Southside Hampton Roads with easier access to care, as opposed to traveling to the Hampton VA Medical Center.
“We're really proud walking through here. It’s a great facility,” Kaine said.
However, the clinic's opening coincides with potential staffing cuts within the federal government.
Watch related: VA considers large cuts as local employees brace for impacts
VA Secretary Doug Collins has said that the department would reduce staffing levels by about 15 percent, affecting more than 70,000 jobs, but he's stressed that the cuts won't impact care.
“The days of kicking the can down the road and measuring VA's progress by how much money it spends and how many people it employs rather than how many veterans it helps are over," he said in a video posted to X earlier this month.
News 3 has been closely following developments regarding staffing levels.
A federal judge recently ordered the reinstatement of thousands of terminated probationary workers, including Alex Hunt, a former supply technician at the Hampton VA.
Hunt says she is currently in the process of being reinstated within the VA.
“I feel every job is essential regardless of who you are,” she told News 3 earlier in the month.
Kaine and Scott are concerned that the current climate may hinder recruitment efforts at the VA, especially as the new clinic seeks to fill staff positions.
“It is a very difficult recruiting environment," said Kaine. "It’s hard to compete with other hospitals in the area that aren’t operating under the same cloud of uncertainty as the VA is right now."
