The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses President Rosalee Longmoore says the need for nurses in the province will become greater as up to 1,600 nurses could retire next year.

“We need to be bringing in new graduates knowing that we have this large number of experienced workforce that are ready to retire at any moment,” said Longmoore. 

She says the province isn't losing nurses to Alberta the same way we used to because Saskatchewan's wages are now more competitive.

However, Longmoore says many Saskatchewan hospitals either have empty positions or are using lots of overtime.

“There are still certain units where they have vacancies. There are still units, in spite of their baseline staffing being full, that are having to call in additional staff because the workload is so great,” said Longmoore.

Edited by News Talk Radio's Chris Morin and Michael Aynsley.