Alberta hired between 200 and 300 nurses in the past couple of months thanks to money allocated in this year's budget to cover the provincial health board's $1.3 billion deficit, Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said Monday.

"The circumstances today are far different than they were a year ago," he said. "What we're striving more so for now, than ever, is a stable, predictable funding mechanism that will allow for greater and more effective and efficient planning."

Last year, nursing positions disappeared from the Alberta Health Services job board, leading the province's nurses union to accuse the government of implementing a hiring freeze.

At the time, the province said there was no hiring freeze. Instead, a spokesperson said all new hires had to be approved by the board of AHS.

The United Nurses of Alberta filed a grievance, alleging the unfilled vacancies were forcing nurses to work overtime and forego time off for vacations and professional upgrading.

The president of the United Nurses of Alberta, Heather Smith, said the latest reversal comes as no surprise.

"It's an admission of reality. We cannot open more beds. We cannot reduce overtime costs until we in fact bring in more staff, hire more staff," she said. "I'm very pleased to hear the minister say that and I'm very hopeful that Stephen Duckett is of the same view."

Duckett is the president and CEO of Alberta Health Services.

The province announced in the 2010-11 budget that it would bump up Alberta Health Services' base funding by six percent as well as cover the board's $1.3 billion deficit.