PrintAHS misleading Albertans on nurses work hours
Alberta Health Services is misleading Albertans in a new advertising campaign. Ads purchased in newspapers across the province claim that AHS “is looking for more full-time nurses,” when in reality the majority of Registered Nurse positions advertised on the organization’s job website are for part-time positions.
The ads do not explain that the decision to hire more part-time nurses is the choice of Alberta health care policy makers.
For years, the number of part-time RN positions filled by AHS far outnumbered the full-time and casual positions managers chose to hire. This continues to be the case. The first day this ad was printed, AHS had listed on their jobs website 153 part-time positions and only 99 full-time positions for RNs.
AHS is playing with statistics and not telling the whole story. Only slightly more than 1 in 10 nurses working part-time are employed in positions with a designated full-time equivalent of less than a 0.5. In fact, almost 70 per cent of Alberta nurses working part-time are employed in positions with a designated full-time equivalent of 0.6 or more.
While United Nurses of Alberta is prepared to work with AHS to take a rational approach to increasing the number of nurses employed full-time, we believe this ad campaign is an attempt by AHS to distract Albertans from their real plans.
UNA has recently received information that indicates AHS plans to layoff a large number of nurses over the next two years. This week, AHS sent its legal team to a Labour Relations Board hearing to block UNA from releasing this information by claiming it is confidential.
UNA plans to release this information by the end of the month.
AHS is spending health care dollars on false advertising campaigns and legal fees to mislead and keep secrets from the public. AHS should start coming clean with Albertans about their plans.
