Forsyth County is struggling to hire and retain nurses, dentists and doctors for its public health department, and is hoping to increase its competitiveness by increasing salaries.

County Manager Dudley Watts said that the county is evaluating what it pays nurses. He said that after that evaluation is complete, Forsyth officials will move on to study what it pays other medical professionals.

“I don’t think the salaries are competitive, otherwise I don’t see why we wouldn’t have more applicants,” said Dr. Tim Monroe, the county’s health director. “The willingness to pay competitive salaries is not always there.”

Ten of the Forsyth County Department of Public Health’s 68 nursing positions are vacant, Monroe said.

Watts said that the county is considering raising starting salaries to attract more nurses and the salaries of some current nurses to try to keep more from leaving.

Nurses salaries are up from fiscal year 2006-07 when starting nurses’ salaries were $17.48 and $19.15.

“We have been struggling with it as many people have,” Watts said. “It’s been both retention and recruitment. It’s a very competitive field.”

According to a county report about nurses’ salaries, the entire country has been experiencing a nursing shortage. The county is expecting that shortage to steadily grow over the next 10 years. Read more