Nurses pushed to their limits with no solutions in sight, union says

Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.

Margot Antle, anurse practitioner, told CBC News those working in health-care continue to face daily staffing crunches that are pushing staff to their limits.

"It's pretty dire. They are short-staffed almost daily, if not daily, with no end in sight it seems," Antle said.

"For nurse practitioners, the role is a little bit different in that we sort of have to manage the workload no matter whatespecially in our acute care services," she said.

"There's a lot of 'one-ofs', in that there's one nurse practitioner who manages their caseload as a program. And they manage the work that comes in. There's nobody that relieves them."

The Registered Nurses' Union which has long called on the province to better recruit and retain nurses and other health-care professionals held the rally in the wake of weeks of debate about whether the public health authority is hiring enough new nurses to fill vacancies.

WATCH | Nurses face "astronomical" workloads, says union president:

Registered nurses say they still face challenges every day after months of recruitment and retention efforts

4 days ago

Duration 1:41

RNUNL president Yvette Coffey says nurses are facing "astronomical" workloads amid staffing shortages and are continuing to face the looming threat of violence in the workplace. The union held a solidarity rally as part of this years union convention on Wednesday.

Union president Yvette Coffey sounded the alarm earlier this month, when she learned that only three of the province's 121 upcoming nursing graduates were offered full-time positions within Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS).

The provincial government has said that recruitment efforts are working. Health Minister John Hogan told CBC in late September that 839 nurses hadbeen recruited since April 1, 2023, including 531 registered nurses.

Coffey said Wednesday the province still has more 600 vacant positions for registered nurses, and 81 vacant positions for nurse practitioners. She has met continuously with officials at NLHSand the province, but hasn't been motivated by what she's heard.

"That's all I've been hearing. 'We'll take that back, we'll have a look at it,'" Coffey said.

"We're calling for action. Someone needs to just action the stuff that we're talking about. We are coming with solutionsCause what's going on right now, taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador are paying for this. And the care that they're getting is not the care they need, nor the care they deserve."

Antlesaid she is concernedabout future recruitment and retention efforts, pointing out other provinces are offering nurses and nursing students from Newfoundland and Labrador better compensation and working conditions.

"The health-care system and our funding model has not always modernized with the role. And that's what we're really struggling with right now from government," she said. "All of our requests and advocacy [have] fallen on ears that are not willing to hear. Or they're willing to hear, but not willing to act."

Meanwhile, Coffey said she's continuing to press for violence prevention measures within the health-care system.

She told reporters she knew of four registered nurses who were assaulted on the job last week.

"I am sick of talking about addressing violence in health care. We know it's under-reportedbut it's not enough," Coffey said.

"Not good enough. Not fair."

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