Nurses union says 83% of its members report staffing shortage as fresh COVID-19 wave looms – CBC

Hospitalizations in Saskatchewan have increased for the first time since mid-April.

Jul 27, 2022

Saskatchewan’s nurses are on edge as the province veers toward what experts have said is a seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province.

There’s a fear that the health-care system isn’t prepared for what might lie ahead.

One of the largest issues is proving to be staffing, according to the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN),

“We know that there is a shortage. We know there are problems, our members have told us that,” said Denise Dick, first vice president of SUN.

The union, which oversees 10,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and registered psychiatric nurses in the province, recently publish data it collected this spring.

It shows that 83 per cent of SUN’s members reported vacant positions in their units, a figure that is more than double the 40 per cent who reported vacant positions last year

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/nurses-staff-shortages-1.6534066