REGINA — Opposition New Democrats were blaming Sask Party government “mismanagement” for dissatisfaction among Saskatchewan nurses.
At a news conference at the Legislature, NDP Rural and Remote Health critic Jared Clarke pointed to a member survey published last Friday by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses. He noted that according to the survey results, more than half of Saskatchewan's nurses, 53.4 per cent, were considering leaving the profession altogether.
He also pointed to 96 per cent of respondents saying that short staffing has led to longer wait times for patients, and to nearly 80 per cent saying short staffing has unnecessarily led to patients' health deteriorating.
“These are just a few of the findings, and I encourage everyone to read through the report,” said Clarke. “It's shocking and proves just what we've been hearing from frontline health-care workers… We're bleeding health-care workers to other provinces, and as the results show here, some are leaving the profession altogether. And instead of listening to them, instead of empowering nurses, they are telling us that this government is actively intimidating them, to try to silence them. It's no way to run a health-care system, and we see that in these numbers.”
Clarke also pointed to the government ignoring potential solutions such as striking a nursing task force.
“This is a promise that the government made in the election. It's been 10 months, and the nursing task force hasn't happened yet. Why?”
Clarke also pointed to the government not coming to a deal yet with health care professionals. He accused the province of “slow-walking negotiations for three years.”
“A number of health-care workers have gone three years without a raise. How does that show respect to your frontline health-care workers? Again, SUN has been calling for the need to incentivize senior nurses to stay in the job, to help mentor new nurses.
"We know that there's a number of units, a number of departments in hospitals, where the oldest, the most senior nurse in the unit is two years on the job. Where have all the nurses with 30 years experience gone? They need to be retained. They need to be mentoring new nurses coming into the system.”
In a response from the province the government pointed to Saskatchewan's nursing workforce as growing under the Health-care Human Resources Action Plan. The statement also accused the "lost, reckless and dishonest NDP" of continuing to "prioritize running down our province and our health-care system while offering no alternative solutions or plans."
The province states the Saskatchewan Health Authority has recruited more than 990 new graduate nurses both from within Saskatchewan and out-of-province, hired between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025. They also state that in the past year, the SHA had seen a 37 per cent decline in the number of chronically vacant permanent full and part-time nursing positions in Saskatchewan.
"As a result of targeted efforts, we have seen a net gain of more than 900 new nurses over the last fiscal year. From April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, the SHA hired 1,423 new registered nurses/registered psychiatric nurses," the province states.
"SUN’s employee count data shows Saskatchewan’s nursing workforce has expanded from approximately 10,000 in 2018 to about 12,400 at the end of March 2025. An increase of 24 per cent. This growth demonstrates the success of our government’s targeted recruitment and retention strategies, building a stronger, more secure health-care system for Saskatchewan people."
