The Department of Health won’t say how many health-care workers remain off work. An access to information document dated Nov. 7 shows that 263 Nova Scotia Health Authority employees and 148 long-term care workers were off the job as of February. The department would not update those numbers. Numbers for the IWK Health Centre were redacted.
These workers are suspended without pay at a time when there are severe shortages in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
At the same time, the province is spending tens of millions of dollars on “travel nurses,” according to a story published by the CBC on Thursday. The province is paying these private contract nurses at least double the hourly wage of public sector nurses, including the three nurses we spoke with.
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