Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador President Yvette Coffey says private nurses are doing the intake work previously done by public sector nurses. (Mark Quinn/CBC)
Work previously done by Newfoundland and Labrador’s public sector nurses is now being done by nurses working with a private company, according to the province’s registered nurses’ union.
Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, calls it a further erosion of the publicly-funded health-care system.
“That’s money that came out of our public health-care system that could have been used toward the registered nurses, the nurse practitioners or other health-care providers or health-care professionals,” Coffey told CBC News Friday.
Coffey said the work centres around intake work for family care teams.
Registered nurses would traditionally call patients who have been assigned to a family care team, but not yet assigned to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, to connect them with virtual care options in the meantime.
However, Coffey said that work is now being done by nurses working with U.S.-based virtual-care provider Teladoc — without Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services or the provincial government notifying the union of the change.
“In [the] Eastern [zone] … they’ve gone ahead and gave that work to Teladoc. Our bargaining unit work,” she said.
Coffey says she’s concerned the decision adds further privatization into the health-care system. (Bruce Tilley/CBC)
Coffey said the union has filed grievances and has asked for a meeting with the province, but no responses have come back. She said the union found out about the decision to employ private nurses in the role after it was made.
CBC News has asked officials with the Department of Health for comment, but hadn’t heard back as of Friday evening.
Coffey said the position would be worked by between 25 and 35 nurses once all of Newfoundland and Labrador’s family care teams are operating.
They’re also sought after positions, she said, adding the ability to work traditional business hours in a non-physically taxing role is of great benefit to nurses.
“You can get through the last ten years or the last five years of your career. They have taken away that opportunity,” Coffey said.
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