NL Health Services CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey (VOCM News)
The person in charge of running the health care system in Newfoundland and Labrador says they are hiring nurses right out of school, but there are different categories.
NLHS President and CEO Pat Parfrey was responding to criticism by the Registered Nurses Union, who says the majority of new graduates are only being offered temporary positions and not full-time work.
He says graduate nurses who are offered temporary full-time positions go into permanent status very quickly.
Parfrey says there was an offer made to every nurse for a permanent full-time position, with 119 being accepted—including 57 in the eastern urban area. But he says most of the permanent positions available are in central and western Newfoundland.
He says they’re looking at ways to entice nurses to those regions, perhaps by developing fly-in, fly-out options or drive-in, drive-out.