COVID-19, New Brunswick health authorities are continuing to deal with critical staffing shortages, especially among nurses.Brenda Kinney, Horizon Health Network vice president and chief nursing officer, said the system is challenged.“We’re very challenged at the moment,” she said in an interview on Wednesday. “I would say it’s based on a number of factors.” By 2043, Atlantic provinces will have highest proportion of seniors over 85: census She said with the number of lingering vacancies plus the number of people out sick from COVID-19 and other infections circulating in the province – staff are stretched thin.“We do have a fair number of staff that are out,” she said. “With our small baselines it certainly has impacted us.
I would say that has been an impact in most every facility.”According to Horizon Health Network’s COVID-19 dashboard, 142 health workers are out due to the virus, with outbreaks in 18 different units.Kinney said they have been limited in what services they can provide as a result of the staffing shortages.“It does impact on the level of service we provide,” she said. “Certainly, people that are triaged at a lower level, a non-urgent level, such as triage level four and five will have significantly longer wait times.