On February 7, the Province of Manitoba announced that they had achieved their commitment to add 1,000+ front-line health-care workers into the public system. MAHCP President Jason Linklater shares his thought as it relates to allied health.
“While we appreciate this government’s efforts to staff up in health care, an announcement of 162 net new allied health professionals (which includes just 14 paramedics towards this year’s goal of 90), is not nearly enough to have a significant impact on a system in crisis.”
Allied health hiring is slow, partly because they’re highly specialized, but also because we’re not training enough of them. Even worse, Manitoba loses hundreds each year to other jurisdictions with better wages, incentives and working conditions, as well as to retirements.
In a December 2024 survey of our members, half of respondents said they were still losing people from their teams, and right now, there are at least 1,000 vacant allied health positions. There’s a disconnect between the government’s perspective and what our members are experiencing on the front lines. The government is not on track to fix the allied health staffing crisis, which means they are not on track to fix health care.
On behalf of MAHCP’s more than 7,000 members working in the Winnipeg & Churchill Health Region, Shared Health and the Northern Health Region, we are calling on the government to produce and execute a multi-faceted plan to retain and recruit allied health professionals. First and foremost, this plan must include finalizing a new and competitive contract for allied health — the last health-care sector working under an expired contract.
What we’ve seen so far under this government’s tenure isn’t going to fill anywhere close to 1,000 vacant allied health positions. While 162 net new allied health professionals is a positive step, it isn’t going to bring down wait times, nor will it enable us to retain the valuable specialists we have.
“Good news” announcements like this one have minimal positive impact on allied health, and do not contribute to rebuilding trust. Don’t tell front-line staff the situation is improving when they can see it hasn’t changed.