Almost 60% of Saskatchewan nurses considered leaving profession in past year, survey shows

A new survey shows 68 % of Saskatchewan registered nurses think Premier Scott Moe and health minister Paul Merriman haven't handled the COVID-19 pandemic well.

A survey of Saskatchewan registered nurses found almost 60 per cent have considered leaving the profession in the past year.

The poll of more than 1,500 Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) members, released Tuesday, shows more than 80 per cent said they didn’t have enough nurses in their workplaces — more than double the number in 2021.

It also shows most have experienced anxiety and feelings of helplessness and that most believe Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe and health minister Paul Merriman have not handled the COVID-19 pandemic well.

The findings come after months of high profile departures and after other reports showed health-care workers have left the field.

SUN president Tracy Zambory said the results represent a “canary in a coal mine” that show nurses are scared, very overwhelmed and burned out.

“Patients are being put at risk because there isn’t enough health care providers to be able to give safe patient care,” she said, telling Global News Moe and Merriman have abandoned healthcare workers.

“Everytime a registered nurse shows up and sees their unit, agency or facility so incredibly short staffed… it reminds them that the premier and the minister of health ignored their pleas for help, ignored their calls to say, ‘We have a health-care system that is in crisis’.”

The 57.4 per cent of respondents who said they had considered leaving the profession in the past 12 months represents the highest percentage in the past eight years of that count and shows nearly a 12-per cent increase over 2021.