Health P.E.I. focused on hiring hundreds of new staff, AGM hears

Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser says her department still needs to recruit hundreds of health-care workers as the current system is too vulnerable to the loss of a single person, whether that's because of a job vacancy or simple sick day.

Fraser told those gathered at Health P.E.I.'s annual general meeting on Monday night that staff recruitment and retention is the top priority. 

"We want to have a system where staff can take holidays, there's opportunities for staff to do appropriate training, that they're working as part of a full team," said Fraser.

"That creates the environment that is more easy to recruit, too. It's more easy to retain staff."

Key to that, she said, is building teams that can cover for one another when there is an absence, whether for a holiday or maternity leave or to take advantage of a training opportunity. On the primary-care level, patient medical homes — which are teams of health-care professionals led by doctors and nurse practitioners — will be at the centre of that.

The province is planning about another 30 patient medical homes, which Fraser said will require recruiting another 56 doctors and nurse practitioners, as well as hundreds of other health-care workers like registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, medical office assistants, social workers and others.

Nursing shortages at PCH

Reopening the intensive-care unit at the Prince County Hospital is another priority, Fraser told the meeting.

The hospital lost its intensive-care unit in 2023 because there weren't enough medical specialists to staff an ICU there, leaving the PCH with a progressive-care unit instead.

Fraser said a sixth internal medicine specialist has been hired, and the hospital has also hired the respiratory specialists it needs in order to reopen the ICU. 

"The concern remains critical-care nurses and being able to hire sufficient critical-care nurses," she said.

Health P.E.I. is looking to both hire and train from within to fill those vacancies.

Recruitment challenges are reflected in the budget. Health P.E.I. recorded an $18-million surplus, which Fraser noted is only two per cent of the overall budget and therefore close to the target, but she acknowledged unfilled vacancies were part of what generated that surplus.

Compensation underwhelming

Nurse practitioner Darci Leggatt, who attended the meeting, took the opportunity to discuss the pay for her profession in the province.

Leggatt, who has been working on P.E.I. for five years, noted that nurse practitioners are playing a vital role in primary care.

"The majority of us take on full family practices now, actively taking people off the registry and we are completely independent clinicians," she told the meeting. "Our compensation is still underwhelming."

Fraser said she recognizes the importance of nurse practitioners in the P.E.I. medical system, and expects that will be reflected in talks with the union at the bargaining table.

"We look forward to working with them and working with you as we get to the table to find the right agreement that recognizes the role that nurse practitioners and nurses play — the important role that they play — in health care," she said.

According to the P.E.I. Nurses Union agreement, nurse practitioners on P.E.I. make between $57 and $68 per hour. Negotiations on a new collective agreement are expected to get underway soon.

Physical safety versus mental health

Trilby Jeeves, who was at the meeting advocating for her mother who is a resident of a long-term care home, expressed concern about the criteria being used for locking down homes when there are cases of infectious disease like COVID.

"We tend to focus a little too much on just the physical safety of people in long-term care. I am very concerned about their mental health safety. We don't focus on that as much. It's not in the stats," said Jeeves.

"We're doing, I think, unnecessary lockdowns that imprison the people, the residents, and they lose their morale. And even the staff, they're losing their morale too, alongside them."

The continuing COVID lockdowns prevent activities that improve mental health, such as going out with families, she said.

Fraser described the situation as a difficult balance.

"It is a real struggle, the balance of safety and what safety means in the system," she responded. "We need to be thoughtful about our elderly and our vulnerable in our long-term care homes."

Decisions need to be made with care and compassion and with consideration for what the residents of the homes want, she said.