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“Nova Scotia’s nurses were stretched thin before the pandemic. Now, they’re starting to break." Jason MacLean, NSGEU President.
Halifax (15 July 2021) — The head of Nova Scotia’s largest health care union is calling on Nova Scotia's Rankin government to take immediate action to address a dire staffing shortage affecting the Emergency Department (ED) at the Halifax Infirmary.
Infirmary emergency department beds routinely closed
“It is a crisis: our emergency departments have reached a boiling point, and government needs to act now,” said Jason MacLean, President of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE).
At the Halifax Infirmary Emergency Department, beds are now routinely closed due to staff shortages. The proper staffing for an ED shift normally includes 17 nurses (including the charge nurse) and four paramedics. However, that staffing complement is now routinely down to 9 nurses and as few as two paramedics.
Staff informed NSGEU/NUPGE that 25 nurses have left within the past 2.5 months. Some have walked away without having new jobs lined up.
“Nova Scotia’s nurses were stretched thin before the pandemic. Now, they’re starting to break,” said MacLean.
Not the first time alarm sounded in emergency department
The NSGEU/NUPGE has sounded the alarm on the situation in the ED before. We published two reports on the issue in 2017 and 2018 respectively: “Code Critical” and “Code Crisis.” That situation has only gotten worse, due in part to staff being redeployed to assist with the pandemic response.
This ED is chronically understaffed, which means members cannot take breaks, or get vacation approved. Furthermore, the ED is a particularly stressful area of the health care system: there are typically many patients who need to be seen each shift, and their medical complaints are more complex than ever, partially because so few Nova Scotians have access to a family physician.
Must fix core problem of staff shortages before other problems can be addressed
Government has focused its attention on addressing patient flow in an effort to clear the backlog in the ED. While patient flow must be addressed, it cannot be addressed without also ensuring the employer can attract and retain workers to care for these patients.