{"id":478589,"date":"2026-02-16T13:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478589\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:45:08","slug":"new-data-and-new-jobs-health-authority-says-n-l-is-turning-the-corner-on-nursing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478589\/","title":{"rendered":"New data and new jobs: Health authority says N.L. is turning the corner on nursing crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Health sector leaders and union representatives have spent years raising concerns about nursing shortages in Newfoundland and Labrador hospitals, but a top executive with the province’s health authority assures the situation is starting to turn a corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing fairly well compared to others in Canada in our registered nursing workforce,\u201d Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services vice-president of human resources Debbie Malloy told CBC News.<\/p>\n

The optimism is based on new data<\/a> from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), though the official numbers reflect the situation as of 2024, a two-year lag Malloy said.<\/p>\n

CIHI found Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest percentage of full-time nurses<\/a> and the highest 20-year retention rate<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really happy to see some of the results,\u201d Malloy said, adding she’s hopeful the updated numbers will paint an even brighter picture.<\/p>\n

Float positions for graduates<\/p>\n

In an email sent to Memorial University\u2019s 2026 graduating class, NLHS outlined a number of newly created permanent full-time positions available for new graduates in eastern Newfoundland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have a relief need,\u201d Malloy said. \u201cWe’re hiring people into float positions, and then they will be deployed to help with relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some float positions will be hired directly into a department, such as cardiology, mental health or the adult emergency room.<\/p>\n

Others will take a float position and get assigned to a specific department for one year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying, right now, to first make that offer of a permanent position to come with us,\u201d Malloy said.<\/p>\n

Satellite nursing schools working<\/p>\n

Outside of St. John\u2019s, MUN\u2019s satellite nursing schools in Gander, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Grand Falls-Windsor will see their first graduating classes work in their communities.<\/p>\n

Brittany Humby is a student at MUN\u2019s satellite nursing school in Gander. She’s a mom of two and is completing the licenced practical nursing bridging program with a graduation date in 2027 that would make her a registered nurse.<\/p>\n

\"NursingBrittany Humby says without the opportunity of a satellite school it would have been difficult to study to become a registered nurse. (Troy Turner\/CBC)<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf of my class are moms and LPNs who really took advantage of the opportunity of advancing to RN through\u00a0the satellite campus,\u201d Humby told CBC News. \u201cWithout this opportunity, it would not have been possible for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humby was an LPN for eight years before returning to nursing school. Now, she said, her kids get to learn an important life lesson at a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have to stay up late and study, and there’s weekends when, you know, they have more time with nan,\u201d she said. \u201cI’m just extremely happy that they can watch, knowing things aren’t always easy, but they see how hard work can pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malloy said nearly 100 per cent of the nurses graduating from MUN’s satellite campuses have accepted job offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sometimes difficult to entice people to leave the urban areas and to move to more rural areas of the province,\u201d Malloy said.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of vacancies<\/p>\n

Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union Newfoundland and Labrador, said she’s prepared to welcome Memorial University\u2019s upcoming graduates, but still has concern for current nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some questions coming forward about whether or not these positions were actually offered to our members first,\u201d Coffey told CBC News.<\/p>\n

WATCH | \u2018We still have a lot of work to do\u2019:\"\"<\/p>\n

Stats show nursing numbers are getting better \u2014 and the union president agrees<\/p>\n

The Canadian Institute of Health Information has several different statistics that both N.L. Health Services and the Registered Nurses\u2019 Union agree shows a turning of the tide when it comes to the number of nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador. The CBC\u2019s Jenna Head reports.<\/p>\n

She said work to fix the province\u2019s nursing crisis is not over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have gone from 752 nursing vacancies three years ago down to 345 nursing vacancies as of April 2025,\u201d she said, adding that’s still a “significant vacancy rate.” <\/p>\n

Coffey is travelling across the province to meet with nurses this month. She said emergency departments are still overcrowded with patients being cared for in hallways, inpatient units and use of post-operative recovery rooms in some regions.<\/p>\n

Nurses are still facing mandated overtime, she said, and the province is still using a high number of private agency nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we turned the corner with numbers? Yes. Have we turned the corner in the health-care crisis? We’re moving inch by inch,\u201d Coffey said.<\/p>\n

Download our free CBC News app<\/a> to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click here to visit our landing page<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-478589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}