Health and Social Services Minister Mildred Dover acknowledged today the concerns being expressed by Prince Edward Island nurses.
"We remain supportive of the collective bargaining process, and we are taking measures to ensure that an agreement can be reached as soon as possible. We are committed to ensuring an adequate supply of nurses in the province, and that all our health care providers are paid as fairly and as competitively as possible."
Minister Dover advised that Government has taken several major steps to address nursing supply issues. A $10 million Health Stabilization Fund was established this year to create 60 new Nursing positions across the province. More than 90 per cent of the new positions have now been filled. Approximately 70 per cent of the positions required to backfill the vacancies created by the new positions have also been filled internally. Vacancies which are not filled internally will be advertised publicly in October and November.
A new Health Care Futures program was implemented this summer to introduce young Islanders to the health care field. Through the program, more than 100 PEI students were employed in various health settings for an eight-week period.
"We are also developing longer term solutions to nursing supply, such as supporting the development of distance education programs for specialty nurses, and exploring relationships with schools that have nursing surpluses. However, I want to assure nurses and the public that our first priority is now, and will always be to train and hire Island nurses," said the minister. "Although, these investments are costly, this recruitment and retention strategy has proven itself effective for our province over and over again," she said.