CBN Joint council gets overview of NL Health’s staffing situation

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Members of the Conception Bay North Joint Council have been brought up to speed on the staffing situation at NL Health Services facilities in the region.
NL’s Health’s eastern vice president Debbie Walsh addressed the joint council during its February 27 meeting.
There are four nurse practitioners on the CBN family care team, as well as two licensed practical nurses, three registered nurses, a social navigator (social worker), occupational therapist, physiotherapist, clerk, and Seniors NL link worker, said Walsh.
Patients are brought into the system through a service called Patient Connect.
“As soon as they have any room to take another patient, they pull one in,” said Walsh. “They don’t just wait.”
Walsh also addressed a staffing issue that had occurred in Carbonear.
“A year ago, there was a graduating class of licensed practical nurses, and we literally over-hired in the Carbonear area so they’d all have jobs,” she said. “But the expectation, and what was communicated, (was) that they would apply (for) permanent positions and then they would go in. So, when people retire, they’re moving into these jobs. When the year was over, we still pretty much had a full 16 (member) staff of LPNs and, of course, we’re not budgeted to keep all them.”
To keep from losing the nurses, Walsh said, NL Health Services expanded its float pool in Carbonear, to offset sick leave or unanticipated leave for both Carbonear Hospital and the Grace Centre. It later also expanded the float pool in Placentia. The position of phototherapy at the Carbonear General Hospital is now supported by an LPN as well, and four LPNs have been kept as temporary call-ins.
“So, the jobs were all posted, and we extended them until the end so they can find all those jobs,” said Walsh. “And they are finding them.”
Walsh said there has been a high volume of agency nurses in the Eastern Rural zone for some time.
Agency nurses are supplied by private companies to work in the public health care system. The cost of agency nurses has been a source of debate in the House of Assembly for the past couple of years. Walsh didn’t address the controversy over agency nurses, but she did explain why NL Health Services uses them.
“We have very difficult and hard to recruit positions in place like Grand Bank, St. Lawrence, Bell Island falls under this zone, so we were challenged to get people to apply to these jobs,” Walsh said. “So, it’s either you cut services, or you get agency nurses.”
There are currently no vacant positions in Carbonear and almost none in Clarenville, she added. More positions might be filled by new graduates this spring. In fact, two graduates will be going to Bell Island. Walsh said that by September, the only demand they will have will be for nurse practitioners as they have been using them to offset the gap in positions.
In Carbonear, there is a nurse practitioner working as an agency nurse to support orthopedics, which is offered four days a week. “You need to have somebody to support those patients after hours because the orthopedic surgeons go back to the city, they don’t stay out,” said Walsh. There is a nurse at the Private Josiah Squibb Memorial Pavilion, and nurse practitioners working in urgent care in Whitbourne and St. Lawrence. Walsh said that where there is gaps, NL Health Services also taps into virtual care.
Regarding infrastructure, Walsh said the Carbonear dialysis unit will expand from nine chair and beds to 15.
“That work is just started so we’ll have that finished sometime in 2026,” said Walsh. “It’ll take this full year to get that done because that’s a massive expansion.”
Walsh has been responsible for dialysis in the Eastern Rural zone over the years, and said at times the need has exceeded capacity. At one point it necessitated evening treatments, which was not ideal.
“It’s rough enough for them coming three days a week in the daytime, let alone coming in the evening,” said Walsh.
After reviewing the numbers, it was noted they had never had to use more than 13 or 14 chairs and beds at a time, so they decided to expand to 15. This will allow them to keep all dialysis appointments during the daytime.
In Old Perlican, the Dr. A.A. Wilkinson Memorial Health Centre will get new x-ray equipment.
“We advocated and, between government and the foundation, they’re replacing it for us,” said Walsh. “That was one big part of the Telethon.”
The Dawe Building in Bay Roberts is also getting replaced. It will take a couple of years to complete, but construction will begin later this year.
There are now midwifery services in the Eastern Rural zone, with three midwives working out of Carbonear. At the time of Walsh’s briefing, they had just had the first in-hospital birth by midwife, and they expect to have their first community birth by midwife in May. There is room to recruit a fourth midwife.
Walsh said government is launching a community toolkit called Welcome Home.
“Following the release of the toolkit, there’s going to be an incentive that communities and municipalities can use – Fifteen thousand dollars that would help you basically promote your towns and your communities to recruit more physicians and so forth,” Walsh said.
A regional health council is also going to be established for every zone. The councils will be established by the Department of Health and Community Services. The chair of the Eastern Rural zone’s regional health council will be Alvin Banfield. Walsh will also be on the council.
“That’s where we would escalate from communities,” said Walsh. “Anything we think we can do to do better with healthcare in general would go to this regional health council, and they bring that information back to our board of trustees.”