Canada’s nurses call on premiers for bold action to address nurse shortage ahead of health forum
Posted November 3, 2023 5:24 pm.
Last Updated November 3, 2023 5:27 pm.
The union representing Canadian nurses is calling on Premier David Eby to take bold action to address the shortage of nurses across the province.
This urgent plea, which is in the form of a letter penned to all Canadian premiers, is asking for a coordinated strategy to finally address the crisis nurses are faced with.
The premiers will be meeting behind closed doors in Halifax on Sunday as part of a commitment made at July’s Council of the Federation meeting in Winnipeg to hold a health forum.
Linda Silas, the president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, says nurses can only tolerate unhealthy and unsafe conditions for so long and speaks of the horror stories she’s hearing from across the country.
“I heard a nurse, who (says) on his unit, there should be four nurses, and they’re down to one,” she said. “Another nurse (is) the only permanent employee when all the other nursing staff are from agencies; they’re just there for that day.”
Silas says hospitals across Canada are always short-staffed when it comes to nurses and they are burnt out and the country’s premiers need to take bold action.
Ultimately, she said, everyone needs to come together to find a solution.
“There’s not one province or territory that’s going to fix it by themselves,” she said. “And that is the key that the premiers and ministers of health are realizing. They need to work together to share the best strategies.”
According to Statistics Canada, there are more than 43,000 vacant nursing positions across Canada.
