Staff shortages halt blood collection at Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest hospital

An ambulance waits outside the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, N.L. on Oct. 15, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN’S — Staff shortages forced officials to cancel routine blood collection in some parts of Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest hospital on Wednesday, according to an internal memo from the province’s health authority.

The note said the pathology and laboratory medicine program at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, N.L. was unable to provide routine blood collection services for inpatient, outpatient, clinic and emergency areas at the hospital. If the situation was urgent, blood would be collected, but the memo warned staff to expect delays.

The note was shared with The Canadian Press by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees union, or NAPE, which represents medical laboratory assistants. They work in hospitals, laboratories and clinics, taking blood and other specimens from patients.

Jerry Earle, NAPE’s president, said shortages of medical laboratory assistants are causing the cancellations. Those that are employed are overworked and fed up, he said.

“Three quit last week in one area,” he said in an interview. “And they are short much more than that.”

The appointment cancellations come as Newfoundland and Labrador’s political leaders are in the midst of an election campaign expected to focus heavily on health care. The province has long been struggling with emergency room closures in rural areas because of staff shortages. The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association estimates that 30 per cent of people in the province are without a family doctor.

The blood collection appointment cancellations Wednesday were no surprise, Earle said. Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services sent another memo last week, also viewed by The Canadian Press, warning of staff shortages and delays.

Typically, the health authority posts information about service interruptions on its website. However, it did not post anything about the cancellation of blood collection appointments in St. John’s on Wednesday. The health authority did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking with reporters Thursday, Liberal Leader John Hogan said the government has invested a lot of money to overhaul the health-care system in the past few years, and it is starting to pay off.

“There’s (been) a lot of change over the last couple of years. There’s still going to be some change,” he said. “It was a system that was built before I was born, and we’re starting from scratch, really, and that takes time.”

The Liberals have been in power for a decade in Newfoundland and Labrador, and they are hoping for another majority in the election on Oct. 14.

Earle said the College of the North Atlantic needs to offer more certification programs for medical laboratory assistants, and that will require funding. He said there are 233 medical laboratory assistants working in the province, but he did not know how many are still needed. However, he said about five per cent of the medical laboratory assistants positions were vacant over the winter.

“Somebody should have dealt with this months ago,” Earle said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.