Incentives not enough for nurses faced with re-registering

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This article was published 23/02/2023 (1088 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A $10,000 bonus isn’t enough to entice retired nurses back to the profession, including some who helped out at vaccination clinics during the pandemic.

New incentives, which were announced by the Manitoba government last week, won’t help unlicensed nurses who are up against a lengthy process to re-register, two retired nurses said Wednesday.

Former operating room nurse Kendra Haight, who retired early to care for her son, has advocated for a fast-tracked return-to-work process for retired nurses who have experience, but lack the practice hours required to renew their licence.

She has administered COVID-19 vaccines at immunization clinics for the past two years under a temporary pandemic provision that allowed former nurses to work as immunizers. That work will stop at the end of this week when the last immunization clinics are set to close.

When that happens, “I’m out of the system, gone,” Haight said.

The province is offering each retired nurse who rejoins the workforce a bonus of up to $10,000, which would be payable after their licence is renewed and they have worked full time for two years.

A similar $10,000 bonus is being offered to nurses who delay their retirement.

The province has promised to reimburse licensing fees. The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba has introduced a new process that allows former nurses, who are up to 100 hours short of practice hours, to return to work under supervision.

A nurses who wants to renew their licence must have worked 450 hours in the past two years, or 1,125 hours in the past five years.

A provincial government spokesperson said Wednesday the province plans to announce “a number of means to assist retired nurses entering the system in the very near future.”

Haight said cost isn’t the issue, it’s the time needed to retrain, even though she has put in hours at the immunization clinic since spring 2021.

She has been emailing Health Minister Audrey Gordon about her concerns since last summer.

“I still feel that there should be something to fast-track us to help in the system. We are local, we are knowledgeable, we are experienced, and we will be held accountable for what we do. It just doesn’t seem right, and it seems like a political game being played,” she said.

Haight was among a group of nearly 30 retired nurses who wanted to go back to work after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

The group, represented by Shirley Herlick, no longer regularly communicates. Former nurses who were eager to go back to work two years ago are fed up and frustrated, Herlick said.

She’s no longer considering returning to the profession.

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“Our whole group was willing to continue to help out, but we got so frustrated because of lack of support and the difficulties to get re-registered that it just kind of, everything petered out,” Herlick said.

“After three years, each one of us are aging more and physically starting to have more difficulty going back. But there are those that are younger (who left to raise their families) that possibly might look at going back.”

It would be valuable for eligible former nurses to work under supervision until they regain their licence, Herlick said, noting unlicensed nurses who’ve been working as immunizers will need more opportunities to work in health care.

“There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to continue to use these skills that are so valuable,” she said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Katie May
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Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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