Canada’s 13 premiers heard the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions’ (CFNU) concerns about staffing shortages in healthcare at the Council of the Federation from July 11 to July 12.
Together, the CFNU and Canada’s premiers put out a call for the federal government to meet with the provinces to increase funding for healthcare and create a national human resource strategy for healthcare professionals. Whether the federal government will answer this call is still to be determined.
rabble.ca reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment, but has not received a statement at time of publication.
CFNU launched their campaign to address the healthcare crisis the week before the Council of the Federation. Their goal was to alert the government and the public about a looming public health disaster.
After COVID-19 exacerbated the problems caused by the nursing shortage, healthcare professionals are leaving in droves, CFNU said.
Linda Silas, CFNU president, said the quality of patient care will deteriorate further than it already has as the staffing shortage grows. Until there is a national human resource strategy implemented to retain, return and recruit healthcare professionals, Canada’s public healthcare system is at risk, Silas said. Creating a strategy to retain, return and recruit healthcare professionals has been dubbed the “three R solution.”
The premiers acknowledged healthcare as a priority issue across the country after meeting with CFNU and other nurse unions. Premier John Horgan said at a news conference that there is a consensus across the board that provinces need more funding from the federal government to invest in a healthcare human resource strategy.
“There are issues that we can address that don’t require initial or additional investment from the federal government… but at the end of the day, what we need to do is infuse some resources into the system so we can get the outcomes people want to see. That is a national human resources strategy,” Premier Horgan said.
Silas, the CFNU and other nurse unions said that the crisis in healthcare can only be addressed if the prime minister and premiers work together.
“We are encouraged that the premiers have formally called for a First Ministers’ Meeting that focuses on urgently delivering the supports needed to resuscitate our ailing public health care system,” Silas said in a news release. “Shortages are plaguing our health care systems from coast to coast to coast. We need all hands on deck to preserve our treasured Canadian health care system.”
While the federal government has increased funding through one-time grants, Canada’s premiers said this is not enough to address the ongoing crisis in healthcare. On July 14, $2.85 billion was transferred to provinces to be used for health care, public transit, and safer air in schools. However, this transfer does not mean that provinces have the resources needed to implement the three R solution.
“The amounts received during the pandemic were non recurrent,” Premier of Quebec, Francois Legault said during a media session. “What we’re talking about is recurring amounts. Provinces spend about $200 billion a year for services and the federal government is giving us about $40 billion which represents 22 per cent.”
Silas said the CFNU campaign has been ongoing.
“We have been talking about the shortage of nurses, pre-pandemic,” Silas said in an interview with rabble.ca. “Then the pandemic hit and all the attention was on the pandemic, which made sense. But now we’re in a crisis situation.”
Since the premiers met last week, there has been no indication that the federal government will hold a first ministers meeting to address issues in healthcare, a disappointing outcome for premiers and the CFNU.
Before the Council of the Federation meeting, Silas said she could not imagine inaction.
“I can’t even conceive seeing inaction,” Silas said. “Right now we know that one-in-two nurses are considering leaving their job in the next year, 94 per cent are showing signs of burnout and over 20 per cent of all healthcare workers can retire in the next five years.”
Silas said these statistics demonstrate the urgency of the health human resource crisis. Until action can be taken to address the heavy load on nurses and healthcare professionals, Canada’s healthcare system will continue to suffer.
“If we’re to have any chance of saving our cherished public health care system, we need to listen to the voices of workers,” Silas said in a press release. “They’re pleading with our government leaders to step up, just as nurses have time and again.”
The CFNU and rabble.ca partnered together to produce Nurses’ Voices: Stories of courage and determination in the face of COVID-19, a collection of stories which chronicles Canadian nurses’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editor update: July 20, 2022: Since publishing this article on July 18, 2022, the Minister of Health has sent an email to rabble.ca outlining their plans to continue working with provincial and territorial governments and health care stakeholders (such as CFNU) to address the healthcare crisis.
“We are committed to protecting and strengthening Canada’s publicly funded health care system and we welcome the ongoing dialogue with stakeholders on important health policy priorities, and look forward to continued collaboration with them on these issues,” the email from the Minister of Health’s office stated.
The federal government said that action has been taken to address key concerns that health care providers are voicing. There have been amendments to the Criminal Code to protect health care workers from threats, violence and harassment. The government also said they are also hiring a Chief Nursing Officer who will bring nursing issues to the forefront federally and support work with provinces and territories, stakeholders, and regulatory bodies.
Budget 2022 announced $26.2 million in funding to increase the forgivable amount of student loans for doctors and nurses who practice in rural and remote communities. An additional $140 million over two years to the Wellness Together Canada (WTC) portal, which offers free, confidential mental health and substance use tools and services for frontline healthcare workers was also proposed in this year’s federal budget. Lastly, the budget proposed an expansion to the Foreign Credential Recognition Program which could help up to 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year get their credentials recognized and find work in their field.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
