Nunavut can’t pay nurses enough to stay in “stressful” jobs, minister says

Nunavut Health Minister Pat Angnakak said March 19 that retaining nurses is a constant struggle for her department, and that burnout rates for health care staff aren’t going to be fixed overnight. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

Stress and burn out are some of the biggest reasons the Government of Nunavut can’t retain nurses, Nunavut Health Minister Pat Arngakak said yesterday, March 19, in response to questions from Arviat North-Whale Cove MLA John Main.

“The problem isn’t so much that we can’t hire the staff. We provide great incentives … Our problem is that once the 30 months is done, we can’t keep our nurses,” she said.

Angnakak added that the department works with the Nunavut Arctic College nursing program and with a contract hiring agency to employ nurses with northern experience.

“It’s very stressful being a nurse in a community… I am aware of circumstances where nurses feel very tired and very burnt out,” Angnakak said.

In a series of questions, Main had described the problem as “chronic.”

“We all have to keep working on it. If you have any ideas, let me know,” Angnakak said. “We want to make sure we keep the numbers up, that we have enough nurses to deliver service in Nunavut.”

In a report released in March of 2017, Canada’s auditor general told Nunavut’s Department of Health that a lack of training and support for health care staff in the territory is compromising health care services for Nunavummiut.

The Nunavut government’s latest employment statistics show that only 58 per cent of jobs at the Department of Health are filled.

This may be linked to why the health minister said recruitment isn’t her biggest problem.

Despite enticing signing and retention bonuses, Angnakak said once the nurses have had their northern experience and maybe when “the novelty has worn off,” they still leave.

“The Department of Health is very conscious about what our nurses go through. It’s not an easy thing we can solve over night,” she said.

But Main said he wonders if the GN makes any effort to target communities where staffing problems are worse.

In his own constituency, Whale Cove has a 70-per-cent staff vacancy rate at it health centre, and in Arviat that vacancy rate is 44 per cent.

“It is clear that vacancy rates remain unacceptably high in some health centres,” he said.

“Can the minister tell this house what steps her department has taken to provide additional support and resources to health centre staff, particularity in communities which suffer from chronic workload and burnout?” he asked.

Main said understaffing is causing a snowball effect or a “cyclical pattern” of poor staff retention at Nunavut health centres.

“The staff at health centres suffer from chronically heavy workloads which leads to staff burnout, and ultimately staff shortages,” he said.

Angnakak said filling vacant spots during crises such as flu outbreaks or when staff are on leave sometimes means moving a nurse from another community.

“Our department does what it can,” she said, adding that recruitment is a constant focus.

“There is ongoing communication. The department is trying to fill all the positions. It’s difficult to do that because we are in competition with the rest of Canada,” she said.