MAHCP President Jason Linklater, Executive Director Keely Richmond and Senior Labour Relations Officer Cory Szczepanski met with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew in Nova Scotia during July 2024’s Council of the Federation meeting to advocate for allied health.
Premier Kinew was taking part in his first annual Premiers’ Meeting, while MAHCP representatives were participating in National Union of Public and General Employees summer meeting and the Canadian Health Coalition rally for health care.
“MAHCP takes every opportunity we can to meet with our Premier and other government representatives to talk about critical allied health retention and recruitment challenges. We’re calling on our government for a health human resources strategy that aligns with the work of other Canadian jurisdictions. We’re seeking expanded education and training for allied health, and we’re asking for essential improvements to the Healthcare Employee Benefit (HEB) plan. Without significant investments in the professionals who deliver high-quality patient care, Manitoba’s health-care system isn’t sustainable.”
Manitoba has been losing health-care professionals to other jurisdictions and employers aren’t filling vacant positions quickly enough. In a recent MAHCP membership survey, two-thirds of allied health professionals told us they’ve seriously considered leaving their job in the last year. More than one-quarter of respondents (28%) say they’ve even considered leaving the healthcare sector altogether, putting our clinics, labs, hospitals, community and long-term care settings at risk.
“We have to stop the bleeding. We we will only be able to improve retention and recruitment when Manitoba’s government and health-care employers collaborate to improve workplace culture, address critical vacancies, and enhance wages and benefits.”
What are allied health professionals’ top workplace concerns? According to our May 2024 MAHCP membership survey:
- ‘increased workload’ (61%)
- ‘unfilled vacancies’ (48%)
- ‘not feeling valued’ (39%)
- ‘low morale’ (38%)
“We also know that those who provide health care to Manitobans do not have a health benefits plan that looks after them appropriately. This is a barrier to recruitment and retention.”