10 obstetrical patients could be diverted from Happy Valley-Goose Bay due to RN shortage
The president of the province's registered nurses union says a shortage of registered nurses in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region has reached a critical point, forcing the health authority to divert obstetrical services from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Labrador City — a seven-hour drive away.
On Monday, Yvette Coffey said staff have become so scarce that obstetrical services at the Labrador Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay can no longer operate safely.
"It's something we have anticipated, and it has gotten to the point where hard decisions have to be made," she said in an interview with Radio-Canada.
According to Coffey, 60 per cent of registered nurse positions in the region are vacant, and 50 per cent of the nurses who are working in the region are casual employees.
She noted that at last count, the province had more than 600 registered nurse vacancies.
"This is not unique to Labrador itself, but I can say it's reached a critical point in Happy Valley-Goose Bay," she said.
6 to 10 patients impacted
Heather Brown, CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health, said the diversion, which is expected to last until Jan. 13, will affect six to 10 patients and their families. During that time, those families will be sent to Labrador West Health Centre in Labrador City.
"We will be contacting you to talk about … how we can help you and what your options [are], and what that's going to look like," she said.
She said some patients will fly commercially — with physician approval — while others may make the seven hour drive, or take a medevac flight, if necessary.
"I don't know if you've seen the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles? Right now we're working with everyone and meeting their needs," she said.
Brown said some families have already been moved to Labrador City, where they're staying in temporary accommodations, including some usually reserved for traveling staff. She said patients will be reimbursed for food, transportation and accommodations.
The health authority is arranging early discharge for patients who don't require acute care.
"We've been working with families and patients to be able to move them to places where their needs can be met and to free up acute care beds for people who need acute care at this point in time," Brown said.
Beginning on Friday, medevac patients from the north coast of Labrador — who would normally go to Happy Valley-Goose Bay — are being diverted to Labrador City and St. Anthony, depending on bed availability.
Brown acknowledged that the diversion will add time to flights from communities like Nain. She said the health authority doesn't know when the diversion will end.
"We're continuously looking for staff whenever we can increase and we feel that we have staff to be able to increase the services at Labrador Health Centre we will absolutely be doing that," she said.
Province deploying resources
Coffey said there are usually two medevac planes available in Newfoundland and Labrador, but only one is currently in service.
While speaking with reporters on Monday, Premier Andrew Furey didn't confirm if the province is down to one medevac plane, but said the provincial government will be looking at modernizing the system in 2023.
"We're always looking at ways to improve the medevac service," he said.
Furey said Health Minister Tom Osborne is "deploying all resources possible" to help people impacted by the obstetrical service diversion in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
"We're trying our best to rectify it for them," he said. "We'll continue to look for creative solutions, not just now but into the future," he said.
NDP interim leader Jim Dinn said government inaction was to blame for the shortage of nurses in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
"Why is it that they're opting to leave full-time positions and go casual? They're after something other than the money — they're after a work-life balance," he said.
Coffey said the provincial government is piloting a travel locum program in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region to try to bring more nurses to the area. She said the program is a start, but won't solve the staffing problem over the holiday season.
