Officials with the Horizon Health Network say their efforts to improve employee retention are continuing.

Figures released Wednesday show the health authority recruited nearly 2,400 staff during the 2022-23 fiscal year.

When you take into account the number of employees who left the organization, Horizon saw a net gain of 550 healthcare professionals.

“There’s still lots of work to do,” Gail Lebel, vice president and chief human resource officer, told reporters on Wednesday.

“We still have lots of vacancies, so we’ll be at this for a while, and we need to improve our engagement and retention.”

Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, Horizon recruited 528 registered nurses (net gain of 90) and 337 licensed practical nurses (net gain of 168).

It also welcomed 523 personal care attendants, in addition to hundreds of additional support staff and allied health professionals.

Those candidates are coming from throughout New Brunswick, across the country and around the world.

Lebel said Horizon saw its employee turnover rate improve from 14.9 per cent in 2021-22 to 12.4 per cent in 2022-23.

“That’s similar to what you would see across Canada in all categories of employment,” she said. “We feel we’re making some progress but lots more work to do.”

Horizon staff also noted that overall turnover was lower than they had projected for the fiscal year.

Lebel said the work environment and staffing shortages are likely the main reasons for staff turnover.

“We probably have all heard the news across the country with healthcare workers and the difficulties that they’ve had with two years of the global pandemic,” she said. “I think it’s been particularly hard on our workforce.”