'Where are those 600 nurses?': PC Party calls for clarity on government staffing claims

Newfoundland and Labrador's Official Opposition is joining the province's Registered Nurses' Union's calls for transparency following the government's claim that 660 nurses have been hired since April 2023.

Union president Yvette Coffey told CBC News last week that she's been having difficulties finding the exact data that would back the government's claim. She says the union was promised an up-to-date vacancy report over a month ago but never received it.

Barry Petten, the PC Party's health critic, noted that nurses' union membership numbers haven't changed to reflect the reported new recruits.

"Where are those 600 nurses?" Petten asked. "If a new nurse comes on, the first thing they do is sign a card with the union. Their numbers have not increased.… They obviously must be in the system, but are they travel nurses who triple the cost? I think that's a big concern for a lot of people."

Petten suggests the provincial government needs to be proactive, not reactive, on health-care decisions. That would involve consulting the union as well as people already working in the system, he said. 

Building tension on the ground in emergency rooms and an apparent preference for travel nurses might lead to nursing students accepting jobs elsewhere, Petten argued.

"Why would you want to stay practising in the province when you're not being respected?"

The PC health critic spoke of a young nurse from his district in Conception Bay South who "jumped at" a job offer in New Brunswick, leaving her family behind in Newfoundland. 

"You're getting our locals moving away, yet we're getting replaced with a lot of travel nurses," Petten said.

The key to encouraging N.L. nurses to work in the province is to cut back on the use of travel nurses "right off the bat," Petten said. He'd like to see graduates offered jobs as soon as they leave the stage, and then the government must ensure they're treated with respect as they navigate the workforce.

However, he doesn't believe incentives are the answer. 

"It's more than money. If you're going to get medical people to go to rural places in Newfoundland, we've got to make it attractive," he said. "With good collaboration and conversation, I'm sure that there would be lots of suggestions that government could take and work on improving rural health as well."

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