Working Canadians have a problem. According to a recent government report, there are 848,000 vacancies. However, the sector most affected by the shortage of personnel is the health and, above all, nursing sector. Lack of transfer in the emergency room closed on the weekends in Winnipeg, patients in Montreal hospitals because of delays in care, and also a slow walk system in Ottawa due to many vehicles waiting in the queue to receive any patients.
Faced with this situation, professional nurses must work overtime. However, some provincial governments flatly refuse to increase wages. In fact, in Ontario, the most famous province in the country, nurses do not stop demonstrating against the law approved in 2019, which increases the salary limits to 1% per year for public employees.
According to the 2022 report, produced by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, “there has been a 219.8% increase in nursing vacancies since 2017.” For this reason, provincial administrations have chosen to provide scholarly studies and more prominent reconciliation between hospital personnel and administrators, as well as policies to recruit nurses in other latitudes. However, this last option is the most criticized because, according to experts, recruitment in South Asia and West Africa can weaken the health systems of less developed countries.
Big challenges
But in order to control this lack of personnel, it is necessary to improve working conditions, especially to increase wages and reduce labor costs. In February, provincial premiers met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss federal transfers to health care. And it happened that the provinces cover 78% of the budget and Ottawa the remaining 22%.
For his part, Trudeau offered some 31.7 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The proposal of the provincial ministers, since there was no real room for negotiation, could not be refused.
On the other hand, the file is in the selection tests. In September 2022, only 51.4% of people passed the Quebec Nursing Order exam for the first time. In March of the same year, the rate was 71%, while in September 2021 it reached 81%. An open investigation to find out where. @mundiario
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