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Nursing numbers shocking, union president says

29.07.2008 16:01 Health - Source: cbc.ca

Debbie Forward: 'We knew there were significant numbers of vacancies but to see it on paper, I have to tell you, the [number] really jumped off the page at me.'(CBC)

A government report showing that Newfoundland and Labrador has more than 1,000 vacant positions for registered nurses is proof positive of a crisis in nursing care, a union official says.

Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses Union president Debbie Forward said she was disturbed by a new report from the Department of Health and Community Services that showed 1,017 vacancies of registered nurses as of April 1.

"We're in a very precarious situation," Forward told CBC News Friday. Forward said the numbers contradict Health Minister Ross Wiseman's comments that the system is functioning appropriately.

"The minister doesn't like to use the word 'crisis.' Well, when I look at that 1,000 number, the crisis becomes a very real thing to me, and I know it's really real to nurses who are working within the system," she said.

"We knew there were significant numbers of vacancies but to see it on paper, I have to tell you, the [number] really jumped off the page at me."

The vacancies involve not only staff positions, but also management and casuals.

Things improving, health minister says

For his part, Wiseman told CBC News on Friday that the numbers are not as bad as they may seem. About 400 of the vacancies involve nurses who are on some sort of leave from work, such as maternity or sick leave.

Wiseman called the report "a snapshot in time," and added that there are more casual vacancies because more former casuals now have full-time jobs.

Wiseman said a program of signing bonuses for new nurses is reaping dividends, with more than 130 new nursing graduates taking full-time positions here.

The Nurses Union has had a sometimes tense relationship with the provincial government in recent months, with both sides unable to reach common ground yet on a new contract.

The nurses are seeking a deal that will overcome what they saw as concessions lost during the 1990s and the early years of the current Progressive Conservative government.

However, the government said the nurses' original demand — which included a two-year pay hike of 24 per cent on base salaries — was too rich, even during a period of oil-fuelled surpluses.

Forward said a new deal will need to be attractive enough to recruit the nurses who will step in behind the approximately 1,300 nurses expected to retire in the next few years.

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