Health professionals call on First Ministers to tackle crisis of staff shortages

Ottawa - An organization representing 60,000 diagnostic, clinical, rehabilitation, pharmacy and other health science professionals today called on Canada's First Ministers to take immediate action to address the growing shortage of health professionals in Canada.

"The solution to reducing wait times begins with ensuring an adequate and stable supply of health professionals," says Cindy Stewart, Co-chair of the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat (CHPS).

While most people are aware of the shortage of doctors and nurses, few are aware that health professionals are also facing a crisis and that this is affecting patient care. Doctors and nurses can't be expected to perform their jobs properly if clinicians and technologists are not there to provide the necessary supports.

"Health science professionals are intimately involved in every step of health care delivery including diagnosis, treatment and recovery," notes Stewart. "However, in many, if not all provinces, a serious shortage of health professionals - including lab technologists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists and physiotherapists - is leaving patients without access to critical services and jeopardizing quality care."

For example, over the past four years, British Columbia has required 298 respiratory therapists to meet demand. However, only 135 were trained and 39 of the graduates left the province. In Saskatchewan, applicants to the lab technologist program have been told they may have to wait 10 years to be admitted even though the province faces a serious shortage of lab technologists.

"A long-term, comprehensive, and national strategy is key to ensuring Canadians have access to the health professionals and services they need, now and in the future," says Stewart. "Isolated provincial initiatives, with an emphasis on short-term fixes, will not solve this crisis as it simply moves the problem from one area of the country to another."

Reports suggest that many factors, which exist in most provinces, have contributed to the shortages, including limited enrollment in health professional schools, declining morale, deteriorating working conditions, massive restructuring, funding cuts, stagnant wages, and an aging workforce.

"A national strategy must include, among other things, an ongoing dialogue with educators, recruitment and retention initiatives, increased training spaces, and higher quality of working life," says Stewart. "If it doesn't, the problem of wait times will continue to intensify and multiply."

The CHPS is a national organization representing over 60,000 health science professionals who deliver essential diagnostic, clinical, rehabilitation, pharmacy and other services to Canadians.

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More information:
Rebecca Maurer (604) 439-0994 or
Carol Meyer (613) 859-7939