Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Health Services held its annual general meeting (AGM) today, hosted by Ross Wiseman, Chair (interim), of the Board of Trustees, and Ronald Johnson, CEO (interim). During the AGM, NL Health Services provided an overview of its performance based on the final year of its 2024-26 Strategic Plan.

“Over the past year, we have continued to make meaningful progress toward strengthening the health and well-being of people across Newfoundland and Labrador. These advancements reflect our commitment to building a more patient-centred and preventative health system, one that measures success through improved health outcomes,” said Mr. Wiseman. “The achievements highlighted in our 2025-26 annual performance report reflect the progress we have made over the last three years and the dedication and compassion of NL Health Services’ staff, physicians and volunteers, and I extend my sincere appreciation for the exceptional care they provide every day.”

NL Health Services’ mandate and lines of business guided the work undertaken in the 2024-26 Strategic Plan. For a list of some highlights of the provincial health authority’s performance in each of these areas, please see the backgrounder below.

“NL Health Services continues to make important strides in achieving our strategic priorities that improve the health system for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Mr. Johnson. “This performance report showcases the progress that can be achieved when people come together. From improving access to care and modernizing digital systems to strengthening innovation and supporting our workforce, the accomplishments of the past year demonstrate our continued focus on delivering better health outcomes and a stronger health system for the future.”

The Annual Performance Report 2025-26 is available in its entirety on NL Health Services website at nlhealthservices.ca/overview/strategic-plan.  

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BACKGROUNDER

Below is a list of some of the highlights of NL Health Services’ achievements as outlined in its Annual Performance Report.

Promoting Health and Well-Being

• Strengthened the provincial public health system through the continued development of core programs in population health surveillance and epidemiology, public health emergency management, environmental public health, and health promotion, with new multi-year plans, standardized approaches and increased capacity established across these areas.
• Responded to significant tuberculosis and syphilis outbreaks in Labrador, while advancing health equity, accessibility, language access, healthy communities and initiatives to improve health and well-being across the province.
• Strengthened partnerships with Indigenous communities through several initiatives including the establishment of the Labrador Leaders Forum, which brings together leadership from Innu Nation, Nunatsiavut Government and NL Health Services to codesign health services.
• Signed memorandum of understandings with both Qalipu First Nation and Miawpukek First Nation.
• Launched 18 innovation initiatives focused on health priorities, exceeding the targeted eight.

Providing Supportive Care and Rehabilitative Services

• Opened multiple new sites to reduce alternative level of care (ALC) for patients who remain in a hospital bed even though they no longer need hospital-level care. These include a 50-bed ALC unit and 20-bed transitional unit at Chancellor Park, additional beds at Western Memorial Regional Hospital, and a new 12-bed ALC unit at Central Newfoundland Regional Health Centre.
• Reduced the percentage of residents in long-term care who are potentially receiving misappropriate use of antipsychotics.
• Enhanced the appropriateness of care over the last two years with the introduction of standardized care pathways in primary and emergency care, surgery, and older adult services to ensure care is provided in the most appropriate setting.

Treating Illness and Injury

• Increased the number of people who received care from family care teams by 58 per cent this year, from 78,500 last year to over 124,000.
• Increased surgeries completed in areas such as coronary artery bypass grafts, with a 12 per cent increase this year, exceeding our 10 per cent target.
• Decreased reliance and spending on agency nursing, with a 17.7 per cent decrease this year in the number of agency nurses. Since 2024, we have had an overall decrease of 49.4 per cent in agency staff. Over the last fiscal year, we also decreased spending on agency nursing by 44 per cent.
• Enhanced mental health and addictions services through online services and the opening of our new 102-bed Mental Health and Addictions Centre.
• Reduced surgery and diagnostic wait times, with a 10 per cent reduction in hip replacement wait times, a nine per cent reduction in knee replacements, and a 44 per cent reduction in cardiovascular surgeries over the last two years.
• Reduced MRI wait times also by 49 per cent for urgent MRIs, and five per cent for non-urgent MRIs.

Advancing Knowledge

• Completed training and system preparation that led to the successful launch of CorCare, which was an organization-wide effort to lead towards modernized health information systems.
• Launched 18 innovation initiatives focused on health priorities, exceeding the targeted eight.
• Began 41 translational research studies for patient recruitment, surpassing our target of 40. This strengthened the health authority’s ability to provide innovative and responsive care solutions to the province.
• Increased the number of frontline staff and leadership who have completed education towards the creation of a learning health and social system throughout the organization.
• Formalized the diversity, equity, inclusion and reconciliation council.