NewsThe number of patients acute care nurses should be looking after is a priority area for the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union.Private members bill also calling for standards for nurse-to-patient ratios in ERsGareth Hampshire · CBC News · Posted: Dec 03, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are viewed by the union as an important step in improving working conditions. (Getty Images)The number of patients that acute care nurses are looking after is a priority area for the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union in their next round of contract talks with the province.Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are seen as a significant step to improve working conditions by the union, while also improving care for patients.“Nurses are working over-capacity all the time. They have way more patients than they should have and they feel unsafe,” said union president Janet Hazelton.Health authority employers and the nursing unions agreed to establish nurse-to-patient ratios as part of the last collective agreement, which expired at the end of October.Hazelton acknowledges that implementing the ratios turned out to be more complex than anticipated with different requirements in every location. But she said it is time for a concrete plan to apply ratios.“We can’t keep saying we’re not doing it because we have vacancies,” she said. As of October 1 there were 872 full-time registered nurse vacancies and 246 licensed practical nurses vacancies, according to the Department of Health and Wellness.The department said it has made progress hiring new nurses, pointing to a net gain of 591 new nurses in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.Union president Janet Hazelton said staffing ratios can help ease nursing workload issues helping with recruitment and retention. (Gareth Hampshire/CBC)The union acknowledges that implementing new staffing formulas across the system all at once is not realistic, but is hoping to see more details prior to contract negotiations.Introducing the measure at one facility, monitoring how it goes and scaling up to others would be a step in the right direction, Hazelton said.There have also been calls for action from the family of Shavonne Lees, who died after a long wait in the emergency room at the Aberdeen Regional Hospital in 2023.Lees, 30, contracted sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s overreaction to infection. Her family has been campaigning for changes ever since.“She had a nurse and that nurse was actually shared in the critically ill side of an emergency room with multiple other patients that were also critically ill,” said her brother Austin Lees.He described the situation as “chaotic” and said his sister did not get the care she needed.Premier Tim Houston, who is also the family’s MLA, has met with them several times and put them in contact with other officials, a statement from his office said.Improved sepsis care protocols and policy have been implemented following those meetings, the statement said.Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin said staffing ratios have already been introduced in British Columbia and her private members bill is based on that model. (Gareth Hampshire/CBC)But the family is still pushing for improvements and has been working with the MLA for Cumberland North, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin.She has since introduced a private members bill called “Shavonne’s Law.” It specifies standards for nurse-to-patient ratios across emergency departments based on models in British Columbia.The bill calls for one-to-one care in cases of patients who are triaged as a level one or two in emergency.“We would have much increased retention of our nurses if they knew they could come to work every day and be in a safe working environment with better workplace conditions,” Smith-McCrossin said, adding she is hoping the bill is called for second reading in the next session.The Department of Health and Wellness provided a statement to CBC News saying recruitment of nurses is a priority, particularly in emergency departments, and work is continuing with union partners.The department also said team-based staffing is in effect in most clinical areas, including emergency departments which have a range of other health care professionals as well as nurses.The department said other efforts include increasing the number of nursing seats at post-secondary institutions by more than 400. The province is also extending an offer to hire all Nova Scotia graduates from Nova Scotia universities and the NSCC.It confirmed negotiations with the other unions representing nurses in the province have not begun yet, but said that is not unusual.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORGareth Hampshire began his career with CBC News in Edmonton. He is now based in Halifax.
Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios a critical part of N.S. nurse contract negotiations
