October 20, 1999
(Health and Community Services)

Province acting: Government put over $14 million into nursing and support staff since Spring 1999

This province has the second highest number of nurses per capita of all provinces in the country, and still the president of the nurses' union is asking that government add 600 more nurses to the system, said Joan Marie Aylward, Minister of Health and Community Services. The number of nurses in this province has increased since 1990 and has remained stable for the last four or five years at around 5500. About 4600 of these nurses are members of the nurses' union.

"This year government committed $7.5 million to create 125 new permanent nursing positions, and $2.3 million to convert up to 540 casual nursing positions to permanent status. This is a total of 665 new and converted positions which span across the whole of the health care sector, including nursing homes," said Minister Aylward. "Furthermore, we allotted $4 million for additional support staff positions to lessen the current workload of nurses and allow them to concentrate more on nursing duties."

"Our aim is to improve patient care and reduce stress for nurses. We believe we have come a long way toward addressing this issue by putting almost $14 million dollars in to the system for nurses and support staff in the last number of months."

The minister said there are some areas in the health care system, particularly coastal Labrador, where there are problems recruiting and retaining nurses. And, she says, government is working diligently on solutions for these areas. The minister also explained that it does take time for the new nursing positions to be filled as they must be posted and filled according to the nurses' contract. This process of applying for jobs, awarding jobs and training for new positions can take many months.

Another factor contributing to the difficulty in hiring new nurses this year is the fact that we are in a transition year from a diploma-based nursing program to a new bachelor of nursing program. The number of graduates this year is significantly less at around 50 as a result of the changeover to the new program. In addition, we are encountering a national nursing shortage.

Nevertheless, the minister said that in comparison to other provinces, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador have reason to be pleased. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of nurses per population in this province is way above the national average. The latest data shows this province has 986 nurses for every 100,000 people, whereas the Canadian average is 748 nurses for every 100,000 people.

"In response to Ms. Forward's comment about nursing students, it is important for students to know that they are highly valued by both government and employers. We were pleased only three weeks ago to implement a $225,000 pilot program to assist student nurses in gaining rural practical experience before graduation. We are also benefitting from the student representative who sits on our provincial human resource planning committee," said the minister.

"These measures demonstrate government's commitment to address nurses' issues. Health remains this government's number one priority. We demonstrated this in the provincial budget when we invested an additional $40 million to pay down hospital board deficits, $21 million for hospital equipment, $15 million additional funding for board budgets, and $1.8 million for new drug therapies," said the minister.

The delivery of health care requires a team approach. The Department of Health and Community Services will continue to balance the needs of all health care professions with the necessity to provide quality health care to the people of this province.

Media contact: Karen McCarthy, (709)729-6670

1999 10 20 3:35 p.m.