Travel nurses contract expires in NL Health Services-Western zone and won't be renewed

Given ongoing staffing challenges and to maintain workplace staffing levels, NL Health Services has engaged private health-care staffing agencies to provide support to fill vacant positions, temporarily, on an as-needed basis.

A contract between NL Health Services-Western Zone and Canadian Health Labs for travel nurses ended February 27th and will not be renewed. The company became the subject of a Globe and Mail article that uncovered misspending on things like $1.6 million for meals that travel nurses did not get. Bayfm News reached out to get a comment but was sent a response via email. The response reads, “Given ongoing staffing challenges and to maintain workplace staffing levels, NL Health Services has engaged private health-care staffing agencies to provide support to fill vacant positions, temporarily, on an as-needed basis. These health-care workers are used as a short-term measure to fill vacancies, help relieve some pressure on human resources within our health-care system, and ensure the continued delivery of quality, safe care for patients. NL Health Services continues to work on recruitment strategies to support staffing levels in facilities in Western Zone and throughout the province. We are implementing strategic, long-term solutions to stabilize the workforce and decrease dependence on agency nursing services. There are many positive strategies in play that are bringing success to our efforts to stabilize the workforce. These include recruiting provincially trained graduates, incentivizing health-care workers to return back to the province, attracting national and international health professionals, and retaining current employees through promotion of workplace safety and employee wellness initiatives.”