Documents reveal Stelmach administration laid off 448 nurses at a time we can least afford it
But they also show we now need a hiring spree
Edmonton – Despite a nursing shortage that is hurting health care quality across the province, the Stelmach administration bought out 448 nurses in 2009/10 at a cost of $23.6 million, according to documents unearthed by Alberta Liberal Health Critic Kevin Taft. The documents also show that the Stelmach administration will soon hire back more than twice as many nurses as they’ve laid off – another confusing flip-flop from a government that’s struggling to manage health care.
The loss of nearly 450 nurses was revealed in the 2009/10 Alberta Health Services (AHS) Consolidated Financial Statements. Ironically, AHS’ 2010 Business Plan admits that “many…vacancies will need to be filled in 2010/11 in order to maintain service levels.” (AHS Business Plan, page 13.) Under the new contract with the United Nurses of Alberta, the Stelmach administration will hire 70 percent of new nursing graduates – or about 1260 out of 1800 nursing graduates per year.
“At first, I could barely believe what I was reading. But the evidence is clear: Ed Stelmach’s administration laid off 448 nurses, left countless vacancies unfilled, and now admit they’re going to have to hire hundreds of nurses to keep the system going,” Taft says. “If this situation weren’t so serious, I’d think our own government were playing head games with Albertans. How does any of this make sense?”
Taft points out another troubling aspect of the severance numbers.
“448 nurses jumped at the first opportunity to leave,” Taft says. “Given mismanagement like this, who can blame them? Morale in our public health care system has dropped into the basement, and spending over $23 million to lay off nurses desperately needed by the system is just another example of the backwards thinking that’s undermining public health care.”
An Alberta Liberal administration would have reassigned these nurses to any number of positions that desperately need to be staffed, such as emergency rooms and cancer care.
Relevant excerpts of AHS Business Plan and Consolidated Financial Statements
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