Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Tony Wakeham (MHA for Stephenville-Port au Port) says the 2023 budget has failed to deal with the nursing crisis that has left more than 700 positions vacant and continues to drive nurses away.
“Even if we were to hire all 200 nursing students we graduate annually, it will take years to fill the hundreds of current vacancies as well as keep up other retirements and resignations,” he said.
“Nurse retention efforts are not going to work when Newfoundland and Labrador nurses are the lowest paid in the country, and the government’s bonuses to retain them are just a fraction of the bonuses offered to recruit new ones,” he said.
“The province’s health system cannot function without sufficient nurses. Nursing vacancies are having a profound impact on patient care, delaying procedures and leaving beds empty. There are approximately 240 long-term care beds vacant because there are not enough nursing staff. There are too few nurses to replace those who are injured on the job (about 175 a year), and leaving nursing units short-staffed or imposing mandatory overtime is only burning nurses out and pushing more to leave,” said Wakeham.
Wakeham said, “The Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses’ Union has brought forward ideas to address the nurse retention crisis, yet Budget 2023 failed to take any meaningful action”.
“With the right kind of leadership – with the right leader who is prepared to listen and demonstrate how much we value the knowledge and expertise of our health care professionals – we will turn the corner and start making our health care system whole again,” said Wakeham.
