The province has rolled out the first phase of a plan to address workforce needs in the health care system that includes staffing projections in 21 occupations over the next decade.
The report, released today by Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell and NLHS CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey, includes more than 100 recommendations specific to a range of health care occupations.
Pat Parfrey and Krista Lynn Howell, May 29, 2025
The report, by Deloitte Incorporated, includes a focus on retention and trying to make the workplace more positive, including appropriate compensation and sustainable, supported work.
It also includes a continued focus on recruitment to ensure a steady flow of health care professionals, including local and international recruitment campaigns and partnerships with educational institutions.
It is also exploring ways to automate non-clinical aspects of some professions to improve work-life balance and allow a greater focus on patient care.
According to government, ongoing work has resulted in the recruitment of more than 1,100 nurses, and 140 physicians over the last two years.
New plan fails to grasp full crisis in public healthcare staffing says RNU
Registered Nurses Union President Yvette Coffey says the new plan paints a grim picture of healthcare staffing, yet still “fails to grasp the full crisis nurses and patients are facing every day.”
Coffey says the public healthcare system is “on the brink” with overcrowded emergency rooms, and growing delays for urgent tests and procedures.”
She blames the systemic failures on chronic short staffing.
Among her concerns are the use of outdated data to determine how many nurses are needed on the front lines.
She says when the public hears that things are improving, they deserve to know whether the claim is based on 2022 numbers interpreted through assumptions made in the 1990s.
Despite repeated calls from the RNU, Coffey says government has yet to undertake a full core staffing review.
NDP Leader Jim Dinn (VOCM News)
NDP says report contains ‘nothing new’
The NDP says there’s nothing new in the report and ten years is too long to wait to implement a human resources plan in the health care sector.
NDP Leader Jim Dinn says action is needed now.
He says the 526-page report outlines a number of issues, from barriers in recruitment and retention, to burnout and problems with wages under the Job Evaluation System.
He says it’s time for government to get to work and suggests that exit interviews are a good place to start to find out why health care workers are leaving the system.
