CUPE is warning the health authority that using public funds to hire more agency nurses to staff much-needed long-term care beds in Corner Brook is not a solution.

The union was responding to plans to renovate the old Western Memorial Regional Hospital to accommodate long-term care space that wasn’t available at the new facility.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn is accusing government of backtracking on its promise to phase out travel nurses, a solution to staffing shortages that have cost government more than $100 million.

NL President Sherry Hillier says while she’s pleased to see government taking steps to address the lack of long-term care beds on the west coast, the use of more agency nurses is not the way to go.

“They created a problem,” says Hillier, “and now they’re fixing the problem, (but) will that be contracting out and privatization of services in the old hospital? That’s our biggest concern right now.”