For Immediate Release
September 11, 2024
NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) is calling on government to start being transparent, not only with the unions, but the whole province when it comes to the recruitment and retention of all healthcare workers.
This comes after President of the Registered Nurses Union Yvette Coffey took to media to express her ongoing frustration with government not providing recruitment information to the union on time. Dinn questions what is causing government to delay when we are experiencing a crisis in healthcare.
“It’s beyond me how government can talk day and night about how much work they are doing on recruitment and retention, how important our nurses and truly all healthcare workers are, yet will hide away information about how well their efforts are actually taking shape,” said Dinn. “The President of RNU-NL should not have to petition government multiple times a year and ask for information on recruitment of nurses; it should be prepared and given on the agreed upon timeline.”
The NDP Caucus is challenging government to be completely transparent when it comes to recruitment and retention, and update those numbers publicly when they are available. This includes nurses, but also vacancies across the board.
“In January of this year, an ATIPP showed 1900 health care vacancies across many professions within the system. What is the current number? We continue to hear all of the measures announced by government for recruitment and retention, but where are the numbers? If government’s efforts are working and they are happy with the results, why wouldn’t they announce them to the public?
“Transparency is an issue with this government, and it is time they start respecting healthcare workers, their unions, and the people in this province who still cannot find a primary health care provider.”
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media and Communications Officer, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
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