SUN takes aim at reliance on contract nurses in Sask., lack of action on safety concerns
CBC
The union representing nurses in Saskatchewan is raising concerns over the province's increasing reliance on contract nurses and the lack of action on safety issues.
Tracy Zambory, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), said the province is on track to spend $70 million on contract nurses by the end of this fiscal year.
She said the province would be better off committing the funds to improving the working conditions of nurses who live in the province rather than spending it on short-term — and often expensive — contracts.
"The opportunity is there and certainly the money is there, because they're spending it now," Zambory said on Thursday.
In the legislature this week, provincial Health Minister Everett Hindley did not deny the alleged increase of spending on contract nurses, sometimes called agency nurses or travel nurses, when presented with it by the Official Opposition.
He defended their use when asked about it by reporters.
"Here in Saskatchewan, as with other provinces and territories, there is a utilization of contract nurses when necessary in order to either keep facilities open or to fill shifts," Hindley said.
The health minister described the contracts as a temporary solution to staffing issues.
Zambory said the evidence indicates otherwise.
"That's not how it's turning out at all. I mean, we've been talking for quite some time about the overuse of agency nurses and the amount of money that we keep spending on them keeps growing and growing," she said.
"Whilst the the government might be talking about this being a short-term solution, they're doing nothing to change that."
The NDP provided a summary of SHA annual reports, which showed the province has spent an increasing amount on contract nurses:
Hindley said the province is working to reduce its reliance on contract nurses but Zambory said that hasn't actually happened, even though the union has repeatedly alerted the government to its concerns.
And Zambory said the government has declined to establish a nursing task force that would work to retain mid- to late-career nurses.
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