Officials say improved working conditions could help with nurse retention

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says improved working conditions are as much a factor as salary in attracting and retaining more nurses.

"We're never going to be the highest paid jurisdiction," the premier told reporters following a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

"That's just the reality."

Like many provinces, Nova Scotia's reality has also meant an increased reliance on travel nurses in under-staffed hospitals and long-term care homes. Nurses employed by travel services are paid far more than thoseemployedby the province.

• 'Burned out': Nurses join travel nursing agencies for more flexibility, higher pay

In long-term care homes, the use of travel nurses has proved successful. Seniors and Long-term Care Minister Barb Adams told reporters that as of this week there is enough staff for all but two of the province's long-term care beds to be open, a major improvement from 16 months ago when 500 beds were closed due to staff shortages.

But that progress comes at a cost: $45 million for the travel nurses in long-term care homes. Millions more have been spent through the years on travel nurses in emergency departments and other areas of the health-care system.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson said work is underway on a new health human resources assessment and plan, but in the meantime the priority is filling as many vacancies as possible.

Thompson said the need should not surprise anyone.

"We have known that this moment in time was coming," she told reporters.

"I've been in long-term care for six years before I was elected. This is not new news. You know, we had workforce issues for a very long time. We knew that the waitlists for long-term care were significant and there was no action taken."

The Tories point to measures such as a recent increase in pay for continuing care assistants, free tuition for people entering CCA training programs, expanded scopes of practice for nurses and job offers for anyone graduating from a Nova Scotia nursing school program as examples of steps they're taking to help.

Thompson said she believes all of that can eventually help ease the reliance on travel nurses, but she expects it will be two to four years before things begin to stabilize.

Opposition leaders say reducing the use of travel nurses will take a co-ordinated effort and an improvement in working conditions.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said provinces across the country are relying more on travel nurse services, something he called a "race to the bottom."

Churchill said all of the premiers need to come together to find a solution.

"We are finding ourselves in a situation where provinces are trying to drain each other of their own labour at a time where we all need it and all provinces are going to be paying double for that very same labour and paying a middleman to facilitate that."

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the government needs to find a way to make working full-time in Nova Scotia a more attractive option than working for a travel nurse service.

"Many of the people that are travel nurses are not actually drawn to it, necessarily, because of the compensation," she told reporters.

Chender she said the government must address long-standing workplace concerns about people having to work short-staffed, not being able to take breaks during a shift or not being able to take vacation.

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