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On July 25th, NSNU President Janet Hazelton, and Researcher Paul Curry, attended a meeting with municipality officials from the town of Shelburne, and other stakeholders in the health sector, including representatives from Doctors Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Nurse Practitioner Association of Nova Scotia, the Department of Health and Wellness and the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
Warden of the Municipality of Shelburne County, Penny Smith, invited the NSNU to the meeting following the Nurses’ Union’s advocacy for an increased role for nurse practitioners in emergency department settings. Roseway Hospital in Shelburne has seen frequent closures due to the lack of physician availability. The NSNU’s recent publication, Nursing Potential, calls on government and employers to allow nurse practitioners to treat patients who present with non-urgent conditions.
Currently, Nova Scotia’s Hospitals Act limits the type of practitioner that can admit and transfer patients in the acute sector. This could limit nurse practitioners’ ability to operate an effective urgent care clinic out of the Roseway Hospital, an alternative to an emergency department when a qualified physician is unavailable. Government should consider amending this legislation as part of the process towards improving care options in the community. Shelburne will also aim to improve its ability to recruit and retain nurses, including nurse practitioners.
The NSNU will be following up with government concerning this legislation as part of its ongoing work to ensure that nurses are able to contribute to the full extent of their abilities to improve healthcare in Nova Scotia.
The Nursing Potential report can be found at nsnu.ca/NursingPotential.
