Premier Andrew Furey says building a new health care facility and attracting and hiring the staff needed to run that facility are not mutually exclusive.
Furey was responding to questions surrounding plans to replace St. Clare’s Hospital in St. John’s, which is 100 years old.
The news struck many by surprise and led to questions surrounding the priority to recruit and retain health professionals in acute, critical, and long-term care.
Furey says building a new facility and hiring more staff go hand in hand.
“We’re doing both,” says Furey, noting that it’s no good to hire staff without a facility, and no use to build a facility without the appropriate staffing levels.
The province’s opposition parties both agree that St. Clare’s Mercy hospital is in need of an upgrade. But now, in the midst of a health care shortage, is not the time to do it.
PC leader Barry Petten says the province has more pressing needs than replacing the hospital, noting that he believes it is deflecting from the other problems at hand.
He says the announcement provides little comfort to people in the province.
NDP leader Jim Dinn is of a similar mindset.
Unless the same amount of effort is put into getting more doctors and nurses into health care facilities, Dinn questions “what’s the good of having more empty beds?”
Provincial Health Minister Tom Osborne is hinting at some more directed health care announcements in the coming days.
Minister Osborne was responding to questions from Opposition House Leader Barry Petten who asked why government was building a new hospital when existing emergency rooms continue to be on diversion due to lack of staff.
He says Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne and Premeir Andrew Furey will announce what he calls a “very directed initiative” this week, followed by another initiative to attract health care professionals to the province.
NAPE President Jerry Earle welcomes the news but says a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan is essential. He applauds government’s plans to incorporate a child care facility into any new hospital building.
He says NAPE has long lobbied for, and has language included in its collective agreements for, child care in health care which operates 24/7.
The Registered Nurses Union is pleased to see government plans to replace the hospital but wants nurses to be part of the planning.
RNU President Yvette Coffey is applauding plans to incorporate child care into a new hospital to accommodate health care staff who work long and unpredictable hours.
She says one of the biggest hurdles to workers returning to the workplace after maternity leave is trying to find child care options.
Coffey wants nurses to be an active part of any planning for a new hospital facility. She also cautions government against going with a P3 model. She says P3s cost more and have been plagued with staffing issues, as she says was the case at the two new long-term care facilities in central Newfoundland.
