Health critic blames “mishandling” for nurse retirements

Hospitals in Halifax are about to see a massive increase in nurse retirements over the next few months.

Capital Health’s Bruce English told Metro News many nurses already retired this year, taking advantage of a “double-bump,” which, he said, is when their pension fund would be based on their 2013 salary.

But Progressive-Conservative health critic, Chris d’Entremont, said it has less to do with money, and more to do with the government.

“The government should not have taken on the unions the way they took them on,” he said. “The way that they’ve started to try to do the amalgamation of the health care units of the District Health Authority.”

D’Entremont said the amount of training new nurses will have to do to replace their senior counterparts is very concerning, and could lead to increased wait times for patients.

“The problem is that we have is that we’re going to lose our more senior nurses, the ones who have the most training, and then have to try to rely on the ones that don’t have that kind of training or that kind of experience.”

NDP leader Maureen MacDonald echoed that concern in a release today saying the Liberals ignored the warning signs, and now the health care system is facing a “significant crisis.”