New data and new jobs: Health authority says N.L. is turning the corner on nursing crisis
CBC
Health sector leaders and union representatives have spent years raising concerns about nursing shortages in Newfoundland and Labrador hospitals, but a top executive with the province's health authority assures the situation is starting to turn a corner.
“We are doing fairly well compared to others in Canada in our registered nursing workforce,” Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services vice-president of human resources Debbie Malloy told CBC News.
The optimism is based on new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), though the official numbers reflect the situation as of 2024, a two-year lag Malloy said.
CIHI found Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest percentage of full-time nurses and the highest 20-year retention rate in the country.
“We were really happy to see some of the results,” Malloy said, adding she's hopeful the updated numbers will paint an even brighter picture.
In an email sent to Memorial University’s 2026 graduating class, NLHS outlined a number of newly created permanent full-time positions available for new graduates in eastern Newfoundland.
“We always have a relief need,” Malloy said. “We're hiring people into float positions, and then they will be deployed to help with relief.”
Some float positions will be hired directly into a department, such as cardiology, mental health or the adult emergency room.
Others will take a float position and get assigned to a specific department for one year.
“We're trying, right now, to first make that offer of a permanent position to come with us,” Malloy said.
Outside of St. John’s, MUN’s satellite nursing schools in Gander, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Grand Falls-Windsor will see their first graduating classes work in their communities.
Brittany Humby is a student at MUN’s satellite nursing school in Gander. She's a mom of two and is completing the licenced practical nursing bridging program with a graduation date in 2027 that would make her a registered nurse.
“Half of my class are moms and LPNs who really took advantage of the opportunity of advancing to RN through the satellite campus,” Humby told CBC News. “Without this opportunity, it would not have been possible for us.”
Humby was an LPN for eight years before returning to nursing school. Now, she said, her kids get to learn an important life lesson at a young age.
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