N.L. plans to gradually reduce use of agency nurses by April 2026

Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial health authority says it plans to gradually reduce its use of private agency nurses over the next two years.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services said in an emailed statement Thursday it aims to reduce the number of private health-care staff from around 340 today to around 60 people which health authority CEO David Diamond says is the pre-pandemic level by April 2026.

"We're trying to balance the need to remove agency nurses from our system in a systematic way over the next period of time, but also to maintain services, and recognize that it's not a static figure," Diamond told reporters Thursday.

"Some of those pressures are easing, we're happy to say. But, you know, we still do from time to time have challenges, and so the use of agency nurses is still part of our strategy."

The number of agency nurses has dropped from 385 in February, and the health authority's goal is to lower that by 30 per cent by the end of the year.

Diamond said the health authority expects to spend $70 million this year on agency nurses.

Health Minister Tom Osborne, who has called the use of agency nurses a necessary evil, says the provincial government has ramped up recruitment and retention measures.

Debbie Molloy, the health authority's vice-president of human resources, said agency nurses will continue to be in demand as new health services are developed like the expansion of family-care teams and urgent care and the opening of the new Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook.

Molloy said the province has recruited 156 internationally educated nurses who are now licensed and working in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 300 recently graduated nurses have also been hired, 93 per cent of whom have accepted full-time work.

"We're going to stay very close with hiring the maximum number of registered nurse graduates in the province that we can, and that strategy has been getting in [classrooms] as early as possible. We're in first-year classes, second- and third-year classes to talk to them already and to make job offers," Molloy said.

WATCH | Here's how vacation and sickness will be covered when hundreds of travel nurses are no longer working within the N.L. health authority:

Number of travel nurses in N.L. will be cut to 60 from current 340, says health authority

4 months ago

Duration 1:17

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, along with provincial officials, has defended the use of travel nurses as COVID-19 strained the health-care system. Now health authority CEO David Diamond says there will be a plan in place to fill in the gaps when those hundreds of travel nurses are out of the system by 2026.

The plan to phase out agency nurses includes encouraging casual nurses to move into full-time work, reducing barriers like a lack of child care that keep people from full-time work, promoting employee wellness, providing incentives and creating guidelines that dictate when an agency nurse should be used.

Diamond said work is also being done to explore more cost-effective contractual options, citing the province's contracts with agency nurse operation Canada Health Labs. The health authority's two contracts with the agency have now expired, and he said sourcing from other agencies will save the province $20 million alone.

Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses' Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, said she's happy to see a plan to phase out agency nurses.

She was particularly surprised to see the volume of nursing graduates who have been offered jobs, she said, adding nurses who are hired have to be central to future planning.

"In order to keep people, we have to address issues in the workplace," Coffey said, citing an increase in the amount of violence health-care professionals face on the job.

"There's still a lot of issues to work out. We will continue to work with the employer and the government on strategies."

Coffey said the $70 million the authority plans to spend on agency nurses this year would be better spent on recruitment and retention.

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