Manitoba’s Health minister says the new nursing float pool has been a success thus far in some rural & northern communities.

Audrey Gordon says in a release that the provincial nursing float pool is attracting nurses to work in rural and northern communities, improving Manitoban’s access to care, and supports for existing staff while lessening reliance on overtime and agency nursing.

Of the 55 nurses hired so far to casual positions, approximately two-thirds come from an agency background and five nurses are from out of province.

These nurses have worked approximately 900 shifts in the first three months of this year, the minister noted, at sites in the Northern Health Region, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and Prairie Mountain Health.