After 13 years of tending to wounds, caring for patients, comforting families and losing her life, Byrne decided to give up retirement and a permanent career. Being a casual employee meant she could be home for Christmas and New Years. Go to a birthday party. And keep the promises. “It’s a lot of, you know, ‘I’m working tonight and tomorrow is the last day of school and I’m going to come home and we’re going to take pictures,’” Byrne said in a recent interview. “And then the next morning comes and there’s a sick call and there’s no one to fill that spot.” Nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador are leaving the profession at a rapid rate, with more than 600 vacancies and another 900 nurses set to retire. Byrne and another registered nurse are speaking out publicly about why they believe the current system no longer works. The health care workforce shortage has left not only the province, but the country, struggling with a dwindling number of nurses, causing governments and health services to rely on a much more expensive option: travel nurses. But the union representing nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador says it’s a dangerous precedent and will cost taxpayers more in the long run. Its leader continues to call for quick changes to mitigate the disaster. It follows a Statistics Canada report in June on labor demand in the national health care system, which showed that the number of vacancies in the health care and social assistance sectors is twice as high this year as it was last year. two years. Niki Parsons, a longtime nurse in rural Newfoundland, says her profession is in crisis and is speaking out so the public knows the reality of the situation. (NL Registered Nurses Association) Niki Parsons never dreamed of retiring, but now it’s a regular thought. But the pension will be in name only, he predicts. “We had four nurses retire two years ago. They retire on Friday and go back to work on Monday,” said Parsons, who works as a registered nurse in rural Newfoundland. Parsons went through some of its most turbulent times in the 1990s, when nurses and the government were at loggerheads over staffing and pay. But nothing, he says, compares to what he sees now: a workplace in constant crisis management, where understaffing is the norm.
Denied annual leave, nurses burned out
“It makes me angry that I can’t go and provide the level of care that I know my patients want and expect,” Parsons said. “And it makes me angry that there’s nowhere to turn because it’s almost so common now.” Parsons said it’s not just nurses who are understaffed. She said her hospital is usually porters, licensed practical nurses, personal care workers and secretaries — all critical jobs that keep the health care system afloat. But short work isn’t possible in an emergency room, says Lauren Byrne. “We don’t know what’s coming. So we have to work Christmas and New Year. You ask for time off six months in advance, but there’s nobody to take that day,” Byrne said. Parsons says she’s speaking out so patients know nurses are doing the best they can with the resources they have. (NL Registered Nurses Association) A survey conducted in March by the provincial government and the nurses’ union found that 90 percent of registered nurses and nurse practitioners experience burnout. Sixteen percent of nurses said they were considering leaving the profession permanently. Half of registered nurses are considering giving up their position to practice casually. Byrne is one of them. “I still love the people I work with, I still love the job, and I just need it to have more autonomy in my own schedule and life,” he said. “I’ll work occasionally and put money into my own pension, but I can plan my own shifts and I’m not obliged to work a certain amount.”
“a slippery slope”
One of the short-term solutions being used is private services that pay nurses a higher rate to travel to hospitals and facilities around the country to fill a need. The use of agency or travel nurses is increasing across Canada, according to both provincial and national nurses’ unions. The agency’s nurses are ultimately paid with public funds, even though they work for private companies. This is public money for a public health care system spent on private industry – Yvette Coffey CBC News requested data from all four provincial health authorities on the use of travel nurses this year from Jan. 1 to June 30. Central Health said it has recruited 46 traveling nurses, some of whom have completed multiple terms with the health authority. In an email, a spokesman said $410,516 has been spent to date. Eastern Health began using private nurses in May and has employed 14 nurses. The average cost per 12-hour workday, which varies depending on the area of assignment, is approximately $1,100. The health authority did not provide the total cost by deadline. The Labrador-Grenfell Health Region has employed 46 travel nurses, at a total cost of $1,085,788. Western Health said it had not used any travel nurses to date. However, a spokesman later confirmed that the health authority had signed a contract to bring agency nurses to its facilities, but the nurses had not yet started work. Byrne’s daughter dressed up as her mom for her school’s career day in early 2020. (Submitted by Lauren Byrne) “This is public money for a public health care system being spent on private industry,” said Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. “And it’s a short-term fix. It’s a slippery slope because our members want flexibility. Our members want leave. And they see that. And we have people leaving our system now to join agencies in other provinces.” Last week, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions and the SEIU Healthcare union called for a ban on the use of nurse travel agencies in that province. Coffey wants the provincial government to explain what would happen if health authority nurses left their public sector jobs to later return to a private service — as happened recently at a Manitoba hospital, he said.
“Compulsory shifts should be illegal”
Coffey’s calls are being echoed nationally by Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. Silas said nurses across Canada are being held by a thread and the provinces and territories should not bear the brunt alone. “No one is going to solve this crisis alone, and there’s not going to be a miracle solution. It’s going to have to be multifaceted,” Silas said. “So right now we’re not seeing much from the federal government, but we’re working with all the premiers to put pressure on the federal government to come to the human resources for health table.” Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, leads members in a chant of solidarity outside the Fredericton Convention Center in February 2020. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC) Silas said the focus should be on strengthening the public health sector with nurses who are already out there. “We have to really ask nurses to get back into the workforce because you have to understand that a lot of nurses take early retirement or went into agencies, for example, and then work on a steady hiring schedule.”
Focus on recruitment and retention
Tom Osborne, Newfoundland and Labrador’s health minister, said last week that there would be an upcoming announcement to help address the nursing crisis. He didn’t go into specifics. But a nursing think tank held in the spring resulted in a list of short-term solutions, including incentives for retirees to return, incentives for them to fill positions occasionally and help with childcare. Osborne said he did not want the public sector to rely on travel nurses. Provincial Health Minister Tom Osborne acknowledges that using travel nurses should not be the solution to the staffing crisis. (Darryl Murphy/CBC) “I respect and appreciate health authorities using creative approaches to fill gaps. But we have to recruit. We have to retain,” Osborne said. “We need public servants in this province to fill those roles. And that’s a priority for me.” But even with the nursing field on shaky ground, both Parsons and Byrne say they would do it all over again because of their passion for the job. They hope that with the right relief, motivation and planning it will be the medicine that is needed. Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
