Without allied health professionals, the health-care system doesn’t function…at all. Our members conduct diagnostic imaging. They are the pharmacists who manage medication. They provide essential lab work. They provide radiation treatment for cancer patients, deliver occupational therapy and physiotherapy services following surgery, transport and maintain critically ill patients, respond to trauma situations throughout Manitoba, and so much more. They work everywhere throughout health care and they are struggling to keep their heads above water. Allied health is the very foundation of the system.

According to the Working Together agreement, “Manitoba will move forward with its commitments to fix the damage, starting with staffing shortages.” The plan for 1,000 additional staff in key areas including 200 paramedics is excellent news, but we need to address all critical staff shortages across the system. We’re calling on government to address vacancies by:

1. Assessing recruitment and retention practices to attract younger workers to a career in health care and prevent attrition
   1. Implement positive changes to wages and incentives, and improve working conditions to boost Manitoba’s competitiveness
   2. Evaluate COVID-19 premiums and re-introduce a revised retention incentive premium framework for the hardest-hit professional areas
   3. Post all vacant positions and work towards filling those roles

2. Increasing education intake
   1. Expand training seats in key programs
   2. Roll out education opportunities in a variety of satellite locations throughout Manitoba
   3. Launch bursaries and return-of-service agreements for the hardest-hit professions

3. Increasing investment in key allied health areas, including family health services in rural and remote areas, mental health & addictions, and long-term care

In theory, this level of funding should take some of the pressure off and enable critical investments to be made throughout Manitoba’s fragile health-care system. MAHCP asks that the funding be put directly towards fixing health care, and not towards the goal of balancing the budget.

We can’t afford NOT to make significant investments in health care.

The post Statement from President Jason Linklater on bilateral health-care funding agreements appeared first on Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

Download PDF here | Shared Health Response to FIPPA Request

May 27, 2022 Winnipeg, MB – During Paramedic Services Week which is from May 22 to 28, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) is calling attention to the mounting paramedic staffing crisis affecting emergency medical services in rural Manitoba. Despite an as-yet unfulfilled 2019 commitment by the Manitoba Government to hire 80 additional paramedics – a commitment renewed in Budget 2022 – all available evidence points to increasing staffing vacancies, out-of-service hours and response times for rural ambulances.

“Frontline paramedics are reporting around 50 vacancies in the Prairie Mountain Health operational area alone, and there are three other regions that are desperately short-staffed,” said MACHP President Bob Moroz. “With the busy summer season bearing down, the situation is only going to get worse. Our already burnt-out paramedics are bracing for chaos in the coming months.”

Shared Health has reportedly struggled to fill paramedic vacancies in recent years. Manitoba’s flagship Primary Care Paramedic program at Red River College Polytechnic recently extended training from a one year to a two-year program and is therefore not turning out any graduates this year, making hiring even more challenging. Shared Health is also competing for paramedics with the City of Winnipeg, where wages are up to 25% higher and recruitment efforts have intensified, as well as other municipalities (Brandon and Thompson), and a small number of private providers (e.g., STARS, Fisher EMS) that hire paramedics.

“The health minister is telling Manitobans not to worry, that the recent budget has money to hire 35 additional paramedics,” said Moroz. “That commitment is part of a 2019 pledge they haven’t met, and it’s going to be impossible because there are no paramedics to hire. Shared Health can’t fill the vacancies they have now, let alone adding staff, and meanwhile ambulances are taking longer to respond to medical emergencies in rural Manitoba.”

Shared Health has not released information on paramedic staffing levels to show the status of the government’s 2019 hiring commitment of 80 additional equivalent full time (EFT) positions. An MAHCP freedom of information request for detailed data on the number of frontline positions and vacancies was denied, with Shared Health claiming that “records do not exist” and stating that it is “working on a process to have vacancy and position information readily available.” Information previously obtained by MAHCP showed out-of-service hours due to staffing shortages for rural ambulances spiking, reaching 19,000 hours in December 2021.

MAHCP wrote a letter to Health Minister Audrey Gordon in January demanding an urgent plan for paramedic training, recruitment and retention but has not received a response to date. The union is calling on the Manitoba Government to take immediate steps to build more training opportunities for rural paramedics, including working with partners in Brandon and restoring rotating programs at rural and Northern sites that were previously cut. Shared Health must also work with frontline paramedics to alleviate understaffing, burnout and fatigue in the short term and retain as many paramedics as possible.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals is the union representing over 7000 members from all over Manitoba, including over 800 rural paramedics. MAHCP represents 85% of Allied Health Care Professionals in Manitoba, working in more than 190 disciplines in health care settings across the province.

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For more information or interview requests contact:
Tim Smith, Manager of Outreach and Communications
Phone: 431-337-7787 | Email: tim@mahcp.ca

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