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Nurses on Prince Edward Island are calling on the provincial government to create a plan that will help strengthen retention and recruitment amid high vacancy rates, which their union says are leading many to burn out.
Officials with the P.E.I. Nurses’ Union spoke to MLAs on a legislative standing committee Wednesday about wage gaps and other challenges nurses in the province are facing.
Union president Kim Sears said Health P.E.I. needs to focus first on retention, then on recruitment.
“We’re bleeding out nurses quicker than we can train them and bring them into the system,” Sears said.
WATCH | ‘They feel unheard’: Union issues plea for Health P.E.I. to hire more nurses:
‘They feel unheard’: Union issues plea for Health P.E.I. to hire more nurses
Nurses in the province say vacancy rates are climbing, and Health P.E.I. needs to draw up a plan to retain them. Their union says more than a third of nurse practitioner positions are currently unfilled. CBC’s Cody MacKay has that story.
Based on the union’s numbers from July, the vacancy rate for nurse practitioners on P.E.I. is over 37 per cent, with 43 of 115 jobs unfilled. For registered nurses it’s 411 unfilled positions out of 1,700, or about 24 per cent.
Health P.E.I. said in an emailed statement that its numbers indicate there are 24 vacant nurse practitioner jobs and 242 vacant registered nurse positions as of Sept. 1.
The health authority also said the current wages of nurse practitioners do not reflect the increased responsibilities they’ve taken on.
Sears said the union has been without a collective agreement with Health P.E.I. for a year and a half.
“We’re falling further behind the other provinces. New Brunswick right now is leading in the Maritime provinces in terms of wages and benefits.… We can’t be the last,” she said.
“It’s going to get … more and more difficult to recruit into a system that is falling behind on wages and benefits.”
Members of the P.E.I. Nurses’ Union spoke to MLAs at a standing committee meeting Wednesday about challenges facing the workforce, including high vacancies, wage gaps and burnout. (Barry Acton/CBC)
The union also told MLAs that Health P.E.I. has asked nurse practitioners working at UPEI’s new medical home to take on up to 800 patients.
Laurie Thomas, a nurse practitioner, said there is no official policy or agreement that specifies that expectation, but it’s a number that’s been floating around for “a while.”
“Is it reasonable and safe? I would argue that there’s probably some conversations to be had,” she said.
Liberal MLA and health critic Gord McNeilly said workload expectations like those are one reason the province struggles to retain nurses.
“This government just went through this with doctors.… Now they’re doing it with nurse practitioners,” he said.
“We lost doctors. Now we’re starting to lose nurse practitioners because of the government’s failure to recruit and retain nurse practitioners and family medicine practitioners.”
McNeilly also urged the province to come to an agreement with the union soon.
“Nurse practitioners need that to improve their scope of practice,” he said.
“We see issues with nurse practitioners leaving because of the pressures the employers are putting on them, and that’s not right.”
Health P.E.I. said it would not comment on the ongoing negotiations.
Reliance on travel nurses
Health P.E.I. has also continued to rely on travel nurses to temporarily fill vacancies. Those workers come from outside the province and are hired by a private agency, usually at a higher pay rate than most salaried nurses hired by the province.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the province spent an unbudgeted $28.5 million on travel nurses, according to a report by P.E.I.’s auditor general.
Sears said the union has heard the government intends to “wean off the travel nurses,” but she said there hasn’t been a clear plan to do so.
Christie Ruff, Health P.E.I.’s chief people and professional practice officer, said in a statement that retention, workforce sustainability and building a strong health-care system for Islanders are critical priorities.
Thomas said the role of nurse practitioners will “continue to evolve” and government supports should evolve with it.
“The most important thing is that there are people that work as nurse practitioners that are involved in the creation of these positions to make sure the support packages … are in place and adequate and that it’s a good fit for an NP,” she said.