May 17—CONCORD — While 60 veterans languish on a waiting list for the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, top state officials said they are doing all they can to overcome a national nursing shortage that’s prevented them from opening more than 80 beds at the facility.
Commandant Kim McKay said the home is an attractive place for newly trained nurses to start their careers, but it remains hard to find staff in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that decimated the health care workforce.
MacKay said the agency soon will ask the Executive Council to hire three temporary staffing agencies to help identify and attract more contract workers.
A contract with a single temporary staffing agency last year failed to produce much help, she said.
MacKay said additional staff would initially be used to augment the care given to the roughly 145 residents already there before other units are reopened.
“Our nursing vacancy rate right now is about 45%,” she told the council.
Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, D-Concord, asked for the update on staffing struggles. She said more needs to be done.
“This is totally unacceptable,” Warmington said, adding that the state needs to increase nurses’ wages to compete with the private sector.
“We’ve just got to make sure we are paying what in the market are fair wages and benefits.”
Gov. Chris Sununu praised MacKay’s leadership and said all health care facilities across the country are facing the same problem.
“This is not about doing more. It is about understanding the barriers we face right now. There’s not a lack of money, effort, funding. It is all about workforce and we’re all trying to find it,” Sununu said after the meeting.
Licensing reform
Sununu said a compromise state budget next month should include pay raises of 10% in 2024 and 2% in 2025 to help attract more nurses.
Also, Sununu is urging lawmakers to approve the part of his licensing reform proposal that allows any nurse with a comparable license from another state to automatically receive privileges to practice here.
Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, said New Hampshire has a compact with roughly 30 states, but it still requires a nurse coming here to go through the state’s licensing process.
This is not about a lack of will to improve the outlook, Sununu said.
“Look, you can never do enough for veterans. Of course they deserve it. We want to do everything we can for veterans as well,” Sununu said.
MacKay said the state is looking to make permanent temporary wage increases that were given during the pandemic to nurses who work at the Veterans Home and the state’s Glencliff Home for the Elderly.
“I also have some ideas to create more education incentives,” MacKay said, alluding to talks she’s having with Lakes Region Community College and Plymouth State University officials about broadening their offerings.
One initiative that has attracted some entry-level nursing candidates is the state’s offer of free tuition for those studying to be licensed nursing assistants (LNAs) and working part-time at the Veterans Home in exchange for a commitment to stay there once they complete that study, she said.
“We are advertising, going to job fairs, high schools. We are doing every outreach we have to see if we can attract nurses to our facility,” MacKay said.