Registered nurses are taking to the streets, making their voices heard
Remaining silent is no longer an option with so much at stake, says Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory
In recent months Saskatchewan's registered nurses have taken to the streets to voice their concerns about the province's failing health-care system. Long waits, missed treatments, cancelled procedures, overcrowding, clogged hallways and numerous other safety concerns have resulted in registered nurses becoming increasingly outspoken in their calls for change.
“I think we can expect this group of professionals who are typically not very politically active to become more vocal in the coming months,” says Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Tracy Zambory. She adds that registered nurses want to share their fears and experiences to help the public grasp just how significant current health system challenges are.
Zambory noted that registered nurses had hoped to avoid dramatic action, but remaining silent was no longer an option with so much at stake. In fact, it's been 25 years since registered nurses took to the streets.
Last fall, registered nurses convened near the provincial legislature in Regina to call on government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) to urgently act on solving nursing shortages. Just a few weeks later, another rally at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon once again drew attention to persistent and dangerous levels of overcrowding and short staffing.
The rallies exposed the unsafe conditions patients face daily and highlighted the critical need for change. Despite strong public support, Zambory says not enough meaningful action is happening to solve the crisis.
“Registered nurses continue to be ignored,” she says. “If we are serious about stabilizing the nursing workforce to safeguard the system and protect Saskatchewan patients, this has to change.”
She adds that the SHA recently released capacity action plans for both Regina and Saskatoon, but they fall far short. Most of the ideas, she adds, were nothing more than “recycled announcements” that have accomplished very little to address core concerns. Examples of the previously announced initiatives included reclassifying temporary positions as full-time, or posting increases to baseline staffing that were already achieved through past registered nurse advocacy.
“Registered nurses are telling us little has changed since the action plans were launched,” she says. “Hallways are still congested, treatments are still happening out in the open in waiting rooms, medicine units are still short on space and nursing staff, and too many patients have nowhere to be discharged to because of a lack of community and long-term care beds.
“It's all very difficult for the public to understand,” says Zambory. “This is why registered nurses using this voice is so crucial. We help the public unpack the complexities of health-care; we hold decisionmakers to account.”
Zambory notes a recent example at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital, where three patients experiencing significant mental health crises endured a days-long wait on stretchers in the emergency room hallway waiting for admission.
But it's not just the larger centers struggling. Zambory says rural communities everywhere face service disruptions and hours-long drives to access care, with closures mostly being driven by registered nurse shortages.
“Unlike other jurisdictions, Saskatchewan is doing little to retain mid-career nurses who are the mentors our younger generations need,” explains Zambory. “New nurses are saying `I can't do this alone,' and they are leaving for more supportive environments.
“Registered nurses are a highly mobile and scarce resource across Canada, and we are losing them in droves,” she adds.
This is reflected in the most recent data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), which indicates that Saskatchewan has seen a 21 per cent decrease in its rural registered nursing workforce — the largest decrease across Canada. The number has tumbled to just 1,760, down from 2,234 in 2018.
“In many ways, rural communities are the heart of our province and foundation of our economy, from farming to energy and potash,” Zambory points out. “So much depends on supporting the health of our province's rural towns.”
Zambory says that dramatic action is long overdue. There needs to be a sustainable strategy to retain mid-career registered nurses, while also focussing on mentorship, guaranteeing jobs for all new graduates, and encouraging casual and part-time workers to revert to full-time.
“We can begin chipping away at the worst nursing shortage that we've seen in over a decade,” says Zambory. “But it's got to start with actually speaking to registered nurses on the frontline.”
If these issues continue to go unresolved, Zambory foresees registered nurses only getting louder with their advocacy. “We really have no choice. It's our patients who are at risk,” she says.
“All registered nurses want is to be able to come to work, do the job, deliver safe patient care, go back home to their families, and do it all over again.”