PrintUNA concerned by health minister’s misleading claim about nurse recruitment
United Nurses of Alberta is concerned Health Minister Jason Copping is misleadingly equating the registration of about 1,400 foreign trained nurses with the provincial Registered Nurse regulatory college with his claim that under his party’s government Alberta has seen the largest recruitment of nurses in the province’s history.
Copping made the claim in a tweet this afternoon that has been widely circulated by supporters of the United Conservative Party.
UNA Second Vice-President Cam Westhead said that while the Globe and Mail story cited in Copping’s tweet says 1,413 nurses from abroad have been registered by the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta, that is not the same thing as the nursing workforce being increased.
“The Globe’s story is encouraging,” Westhead said. “As the Globe reported, once registered these nurses can legally come to work in Alberta, but they still have to find jobs and be hired.”
“UNA has been calling for the changes made by CRNA to their application process for a long time, so we are glad to see this happening,” he added. “But Mr. Copping’s conclusion is more aspirational than real.”
Westhead noted that in 2019, just before the onset of the pandemic, the UCP was talking about eliminating more than 7,400 unionized public sector jobs including at least 750 Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses. The government also talked about larger but unspecified numbers of mid-level managers, which in health care would also have included many nurses.
Alberta Health Services figures show that only 370 additional Registered Nurses have been hired in Alberta in the past year.
“Based on that, I don’t think we can conclude that Alberta has seen the largest recruitment of nurses in its history or anything like it,” Westhead said. “It’s far too soon for the minister to be taking a victory lap.”
Westhead noted that the number of Registered Nurses employed by AHS increased somewhat since 2019, including through the pandemic. But he said that with long waits for Emergency services every day in Alberta hospitals, more than 30 hospitals with service disruptions, more than 70 relying on high-cost travel nurses brought in by agencies, and staff nurses being routinely denied vacation and time off, the government is clearly not recruiting enough.
Westhead added that bringing nurses from abroad also doesn’t solve the need for experienced nurses who serve as mentors and leaders in Alberta’s health care system.
The UCP’s persistent pro-privatization messaging over the past several years – including Premier Danielle Smith’s talk of transferring the operations of public hospitals that is in the news today, is not going to attract nurses from abroad or elsewhere in Canada to work in Alberta, Westhead said.
UNA represents more than 30,000 Alberta Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses in Alberta.
