Throughout Nurse Practitioner Week (November 13-19), the Provincial Government is acknowledging the high quality of health care that nurse practitioners provide, and thank them for the vital role they play in the health care system.
During Nurse Practitioner Week, the Provincial Government is taking steps to increase the number of nurse practitioners within the health care system. This aligns with government’s commitment to enable more nurse practitioners to provide care in communities throughout province, and also to introduce a number of nurse practitioner-led clinics under the regional health authorities.
The regional health authorities will immediately begin recruitment efforts to increase the number of nurse practitioners, especially in rural areas, with an aim of employing them at collaborative community team clinics that will be added throughout the province. Currently, the majority of nurse practitioners in Newfoundland and Labrador are employed in emergency departments and other specialty program areas, such as urology, cardiology, nephrology, long-term care and mental health and addictions, or with the 811 HealthLine.
As part of the primary health care transformation that was outlined in Health Accord NL, the regional health authorities have started implementation of collaborative community teams. These are multi-disciplinary teams that include family physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, pharmacists and other allied health professionals. There are currently seven collaborative community teams in various stages of implementation, with a goal of having 35 implemented over the next five years.
It is envisioned that nurse practitioner-led clinics will be a part of these teams. The goal is to expand the number of teams every year until every resident of the province is attached to a community team to meet their health and social needs. In some cases, these clinics will be led specifically by nurse practitioners, as government seeks to increase access to primary care.
It is anticipated that the addition of more nurse practitioners into the primary care field will also help alleviate pressure on the province’s emergency departments.
Quotes
“We continue our efforts to provide primary care access to residents of the province, recognizing the human resource challenges that our province, like so many others, is currently facing. Increasing the number of nurse practitioners within the health care system is another strategy we are using to address challenges in accessing primary care, particularly in some of our more rural and remote areas.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
“The improvements nurse practitioners could make in the delivery of primary care and across the health care system are significant. This is a step to better utilize this critical health care provider. We’ll continue to work with the Provincial Government on efforts to support and more fully utilize nurse practitioners to improve patient care.”
Yvette Coffey
President, Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador
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Media contact
Tina Coffey
Health and Community Services
709-729-6554, 687-9903
tcoffey@gov.nl.ca