For Immediate Release
September 19, 2024
Jordan Brown, MHA for Labrador West said that nursing recruitment numbers show that government’s lack of respect for nurses has hurt our health care system.
Brown is commenting on the update given by the Minister of Health and Community services today.
Successive governments have showed no respect for the nursing profession and turned it into a job no one wanted. If government had used the 100s of millions it spent on travel nurses to retain the hundreds of nurses who have stopped working, the people of the province, and our health care system, would be in a much better place. The impact has been tremendous in rural areas especially.
Government was throwing around a lot of numbers regarding nursing vacancies, recruitment and retention. The vacancies are still unacceptably high. The recruitment numbers in Labrador show that only 10 Licensed Practical Nurses and no Nurse Practitioners were hired. We still have 603 vacancies.
Government should stop clapping itself on the back and double down on fixing the problem. We are still short many other health care positions like family doctors, respiratory therapists, and more.
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For further information, contact Amanda Will, Chief of Staff, Office of NDP Leader James Dinn at
T. 709-729-2330 M. 709-699-8587
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