Recruitment and retention must go hand in hand if N.L. hopes to ‘stop the bleeding’ in the health care sector

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The announcement of a new financial incentive to attract health-care professionals to the province might yet prove to be a good recruitment strategy, says Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union (RNU).

But recruitment and retention have to go “hand in hand,” she says.

“And retention is … where we’re failing in the system right now,” Coffey said in a telephone interview. “We are not retaining the skilled people in the health-care system.”

Some members find the announcement of the Come Home Year 2022 Incentive — which offers a one-time, upfront payment to physicians, nurses and paramedics from other jurisdictions who sign a contract for several years’ service, difficult to take.