The nurses’ union and the Saskatchewan government signed an agreement Thursday setting annual targets for hiring nurses and funding incentives for health regions to meet those targets.This is the first agreement of its kind in Canada.“Approximately 10 per cent of the (nursing) workforce is already missing and another 674 nurses are eligible to retire this year. We polled our members in November and if nurses act on their intentions to retire, resign or go casual over the next three years we could lose 2,600 more nurses and that would cripple the health-care system,” Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Rosalee Longmoore said. Longmoore applauded the government for recognizing the seriousness of the nursing shortage and acting on SUN’s concerns by working collaboratively with the union and the health regions to address this issue. “As the new minister of health I will not pretend there isn’t a problem when there is. I will not refuse to set specific targets because we may not measure up,” Health Minister Don McMorris told reporters. Read more