The President of SEIU-West doesn't like the term "vacancy management."

The Saskatoon Health Region has said part of their strategy to reduce their deficit and balance the budget is vacancy management, which means studying a vacancy before filling it, to see if it needs to be filled or if it needs to be filled right away.

Cape says what this really means is hospitals and nursing homes working short staffed.

She explains if you're running to provide care, there may be not enough staff to do those healthcare checks and balances for patients.

The union is helping to deal with deficit reduction through assisting with the Health Region's LEAN management system, which figures out where any inefficiencies are, so they can be dealt with.

She also acknowledged the difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled and experienced healthcare professionals, especially for some positions.

She says the union has stepped up its efforts to attract people to health care, including attending career fairs.

(ct sept11/12)