Expect longer ER waiting times, St. John's hospital warns

The largest hospital in Newfoundland and Labradorwarned the publicon Friday to expect longer than usual emergency waiting times because of a chronic staff shortage.

Eastern Health, which manages the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, said it has not been able to fix a nursing staff shortage at the hospital that made headlines earlier this summer.

Thestaffing problemresulted in the closing of one of three emergency units in July.

The two units that are still open continue to see a high volume of patients, the hospital said.

Nursing shortages have been pronounced this summer at hospitals across the province, with some institutions cancelling or strictly limiting vacation times.

The government has tried several tactics to improve staffing, including the conversion ofscores of temporary nursing jobs to permanent status.

Signing bonuses

Health Minister Ross Wiseman told CBC News at the end of July that signing bonuses have helped to attract new recruits.

"We have some vacancies right now, but I think that each of our health authorities have had some real good success recruiting the new graduates who came out of nursing schools this year," he said.

However, nurses say the measures have not had a significant effect.

The nurses union is preparing to bargain for a new contract. The current contract expires in a year.

Debbie Forward, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union, told CBC News that a better contract would go a long way to solving chronic shortages.

About one in five nurses in Eastern Health — which manages hospitals, nursing homes and clinics on the Avalon, Bonavista and Burin peninsulas, including tertiary hospitals in St. John's — works on a temporary or casual basis.