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So far this year, Vitalité Health Network has recruited 17 physicians from within Canada, and it’s seen one doctor depart, for a net gain of 16.
“We will probably have a new record this year, if we continue like that,” Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité, said at a board of directors meeting Tuesday.
At the meeting in Moncton, discussion centred on the network’s recently released report on the first quarter of 2026.
The report details network initiatives and hiring numbers achieved as part of efforts to increase access to health care across New Brunswick.
The report says that 545 permanent new hires have been made across the network since Jan 1. These include 39 licensed pactical nurses, 96 registered nurses, and one nurse practitioner.
The numbers fall short of the hiring targets of 60 LPNs, 100 RNs and 700 employees in total for the first quarter, Desrosiers said there were about 200 vacant nursing positions.
Vitalité Health Network published its first-quarter report, which included this chart of nurse hires compared to targets. (Vitalité Health Network)
The report notes that international recruitment has been successful, having brought more than 450 foreign-trained nurses to Vitalité since 2022. The report says 305 of those are still working for the network.
The overall turnover rate is 6.4 per cent, the report says.
More patients attached to doctors
The network also says that 93 per cent of patients are now attached to a primary health-care provider, but 20,000 patients are still without a doctor out of the total of 283,125 covered by the network.
The board meeting also noted new initiatives in pregnancy and postpartum care, an online X-ray booking service, and the phasing out of travel nurses.
“By the end of this fiscal year, there will no longer be any travel nurses within Vitalité,” said Patrick Parent, deputy CEO. “We’re working actively towards that weaning off of that service right now.
“That’s why our activities from a recruitment standpoint really matter, to speed it up and make sure that the integration is combined between local resources and the students who are coming up through the system.”