The Registered Nurses Union says news that a woman who had worked some two dozen shifts at Lakeside Homes in Gander while impersonating a registered nurse is upsetting for the patients and families involved.
RNU President Yvette Coffey says it is also difficult news for the nurses who worked alongside Lisa Driscoll.
The travel nurse had been flagged by the College of Nurses of Ontario as far back as July and an advisory about her had been posted online.
Central Health issued a release late yesterday indicating that RCMP had been contacted after they discovered that Driscoll had worked with patients at the long-term care facility in Gander without a license as an LPN or RN in the province. According to Central Health, she had used the licence of an existing registered nurse with a similar name.
(Yvette Coffey File Photo)
The RNU has long been concerned about the province’s reliance on travel nurses to fill staffing vacancies in the health care system. Coffey says it’s deeply concerning that the private travel agency who hired Driscoll did not have the appropriate verification and accountability processes in place.
Coffey says the province’s use of travel nurses is actually making staffing challenges worse.
She says the province spent $8.8 million on travel nurses between January 1 and October. She says travel nurses working alongside nurses in the public sector make more money and enjoy greater flexibility. All that causes nurses to leave the system.
The woman worked 25 shifts at Lakeside Homes between April and November of this year. While no patients were affected, two incidents not involving patient care were raised and addressed according to Central Health CEO Andree Robichaud.
