SASKATCHEWAN UNION OF NURSES AND GOVERNMENT OF SASKATCHEWAN PARTNERSHIP ACHIEVES 70 PER CENT OF GOAL TO HIRE 800 NURSES

The SUN/Government partnership agreement has produced major progress toward the target of employing 800 more registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses.

Health Minister Don McMorris and SUN President Rosalee Longmoore reported today that health regions now employ 560 more RNs and RPNs than when the partnership was signed, achieving 70 per cent of the 800 target set by the SUN/Government partnership.

"These impressive gains show the value of collaboration over confrontation," McMorris said. "Our government and our health regions are committed to addressing nurses' concerns, and we are working closely with SUN to achieve our goals. Together, we are laying a solid foundation for a stable nursing workforce that will provide patients with safer, higher quality care."

Nursing vacancies have also declined, from 518 in October 2008 to 403 as of June 30, 2009.

"This is great progress," SUN President Rosalee Longmoore said. "Several health regions have been very successful with recruitment. We remain concerned that the persistent vacancies on some units may be jeopardizing the quality of patient care and require special attention and action. Understaffed nursing units are a difficult nursing practice environment for newly hired or novice nurses, and we will soon lose even more experienced and highly skilled nurses to retirement. This is a big turnaround after a decade of bad news, so we need to celebrate today, then quickly get back to work on retention and recruitment to ensure Saskatchewan residents are getting the skilled nursing care they need."

"While the progress toward the hiring goals is vital, there are many initiatives in the agreement, which taken together, will create a robust, healthy, vibrant nursing workforce that contributes to a sustainable, high-quality health care system in Saskatchewan," Associate Dean at the Regina Site of College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, who chairs the SUN/Government Partnership table discussions Dr. Marlene Smadu said. "We are making great progress together and will continue with the important work of fully implementing the initiatives in the agreement."

-30-

For more information, contact:

Karen Hill
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083

 Erin Poier
Saskatchewan Union of Nurses
Regina
Phone: 306-536-3467