Nursing Crisis Turning Point: Newfoundland's Healthcare Jobs Surge with New Data and Opportunities

Health Authority Reports Progress in Nursing Shortages

Health sector leaders and union representatives have spent years raising concerns about nursing shortages in Newfoundland and Labrador hospitals, but a top executive with the province's health authority assures the situation is starting to turn a corner.

Debbie Malloy, vice-president of human resources with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, says new data suggests the province is making ground to address its nursing shortage.

Debbie Malloy, vice-president of human resources with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, says new data suggests the province is making ground to address its nursing shortage. (Jenna Head/CBC)

New Data Shows Promising Trends

The optimism is based on new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), though the official numbers reflect the situation as of 2024, a two-year lag Malloy said.

CIHI found Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest percentage of full-time nurses and the highest 20-year retention rate in the country.

“We were really happy to see some of the results,” Malloy said, adding she's hopeful the updated numbers will paint an even brighter picture.

New Graduate Opportunities

In an email sent to Memorial University’s 2026 graduating class, NLHS outlined a number of newly created permanent full-time positions available for new graduates in eastern Newfoundland.

“We always have a relief need,” Malloy said. “We're hiring people into float positions, and then they will be deployed to help with relief.”

Some float positions will be hired directly into a department, such as cardiology, mental health or the adult emergency room. Others will take a float position and get assigned to a specific department for one year.

“We're trying, right now, to first make that offer of a permanent position to come with us,” Malloy said.

Satellite Nursing Schools Making a Difference

Outside of St. John’s, MUN’s satellite nursing schools in Gander, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Grand Falls-Windsor will see their first graduating classes work in their communities.

Brittany Humby says without the opportunity of a satellite school it would have been difficult to study to become a registered nurse. (Troy Turner/CBC)

Brittany Humby is a student at MUN’s satellite nursing school in Gander. She's a mom of two and is completing the licenced practical nursing bridging program with a graduation date in 2027 that would make her a registered nurse.

“Half of my class are moms and LPNs who really took advantage of the opportunity of advancing to RN through the satellite campus,” Humby told CBC News. “Without this opportunity, it would not have been possible for us.”

Malloy said nearly 100 per cent of the nurses graduating from MUN's satellite campuses have accepted job offers.

Union President Still Has Concerns

Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses' Union Newfoundland and Labrador, said she's prepared to welcome Memorial University’s upcoming graduates, but still has concern for current nurses.

Stats show nursing numbers are getting better — and the union president agrees

She said work to fix the province’s nursing crisis is not over.

“We have gone from 752 nursing vacancies three years ago down to 345 nursing vacancies as of April 2025,” she said, adding that's still a "significant vacancy rate."

Coffey is travelling across the province to meet with nurses this month. She said emergency departments are still overcrowded with patients being cared for in hallways, inpatient units and use of post-operative recovery rooms in some regions.

Nurses are still facing mandated overtime, she said, and the province is still using a high number of private agency nurses.

“Have we turned the corner with numbers? Yes. Have we turned the corner in the health-care crisis? We're moving inch by inch,” Coffey said.