New Brunswick Nurses Union says most of the record number of nurses were costly travel nurses;
In a province with a stressed-out health-care system, the announcement was a rare shot of good news: New Brunswick had registered a record number of nurses in the first six months of this year.says the statistic released in July was misleading, as the majority of the 657 newly registered professionals were actually travel nurses, costing provincial taxpayers big bucks.
If the union's estimate is correct, each travel nurse would cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars annually. “For new registrations, the Nurses Association of New Brunswick does not have any information on the terms and conditions of their employment in New Brunswick,” said CEO Denise LeBlanc-Kwaw in an email. “This is a question that could be answered by the various employers in the province. Our mandate is to ensure the registration of nurses and nurse practitioners in the most efficient and timely manner possible.
“It is important to emphasize that we need immediate help to support our caregivers,” she said, in a prepared statement. “These reinforcements allow us both to lighten the workload of our teams, to avoid overwork and overtime and to maintain essential services for the population we serve and ensure safe care, such as dialysis, or treatment at the Moncton Emergency Department or Campbellton Emergency Department.”She emphasized that hiring travel nurses was considered a temporary solution.
Sean Hatchard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, said travel nurses are contracted by the regional health authorities, not the provincial government. “These travel nurses are usually contracted when the delivery of acute care services could potentially be disrupted, which would prevent New Brunswickers from accessing needed health care services,” he said. “The Department of Health is working on a number of initiatives to bolster the province’s nursing ranks.”
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