Sask. gov’t says more than 1,000 nursing grads hired since December 2022

The Saskatchewan government says it has hired more than 1,000 nursing graduates over the past 14 months.

In an update Thursday on the progress of the Health Human Resources Action Plan, the government said 1,002 nursing grads from Saskatchewan and outside the province have been hired since December of 2022.

The update didn’t say how many nurses had retired, left the province or left the profession in that time frame. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has said repeatedly that the health-care system in the province is suffering from staffing issues and workers are burning out.

The government also noted that 235 internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the Philippines are either in the province’s workforce already or preparing to join it. Of that number, 178 are in Saskatchewan and 73 have started working around the province.

In an effort to retain nurses, the government in November expanded the Saskatchewan Loan Forgiveness for Nurses and Nurse Practitioners program to five more communities. It offers incentives to health-care professionals to work in areas of the province with high recruitment needs.

“Nurses and nurse practitioners are critical to the health of our communities and the future of the health care sector,” Health Minister Everett Hindley said in a release. “We will continue to make significant investments in programs to recruit, train, incentivize and retain more nurses as we build a stronger, more resilient health care system for the people of Saskatchewan.”

According to the government, nearly 300 hard-to-recruit positions have been filled through the Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive. The media release said more than 75 per cent of those incentives have been given to nurses.

The government added that 223 of the 250 new and enhanced permanent full-time positions in nine high-priority occupations in rural and remote areas have been filled. The Saskatchewan Health Authority is looking at new graduates and nurses recruited from other countries to fill the remaining jobs.

In another move aimed at increasing health-care staffing down the road, Suncrest College in Yorkton is offering a new diagnostic medical sonography advanced diploma program in the fall, with room for six Saskatchewan students looking to get into that field.

The Health Human Resources Action Plan was launched in September of 2022. The government’s investment is to total more than $60 million over the next few years.