Question Period Note: Health Workforce Challenges

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KEY MESSAGES
· Canada's health workforce is facing several challenges, including supply shortages, difficulties retaining staff, and health worker burnout.
· Our government will add thousands of new doctors to Canada’s health care system, working with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to:
- address labour mobility issues and implement pan-Canadian licensure,
- make it easier for internationally trained health professionals to practice in Canada and recruit qualified doctors through a new global recruitment strategy, and
- increase medical school and residency spaces and build new medical schools.
IF PRESSED …
Q1 : If pressed on labour mobility for health professionals
A1 :
• Our government is committed to addressing labour mobility issues and implementing pan-Canadian licensure.
• By advancing mutual recognition of credentials across provinces and territories we can improve workforce flexibility, lower health care costs, and reduce regional shortages.
Q2 : If pressed on foreign credential recognition
A2 :
• Our government is working to make it easier for internationally educated health professionals to practice in Canada.
• We will work with provincial and territorial partners to streamline credential recognition for internationally trained doctors and nurses so that qualified health care professionals already living here can contribute to our health system.
• We will also recruit qualified doctors through a new global recruitment strategy that will fast-track the arrival of doctors into Canada, including Canadians practicing abroad and other U.S.-trained physicians and health researchers.
Q3 : If pressed on enhancing medical training
A3 :
• Our government is committed to increasing medical school and residency spaces and helping build new medical schools and expanding residency positions, especially for family medicine.
• We will work in close collaboration with each province and territory to support their priorities and needs of their respective populations.
• We will consider the unique health care access needs of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis and establish a dedicated stream to increase access to medical care in areas of federal jurisdiction.
Q4 : If pressed on retention of health professionals
A4 :
• The Government of Canada is focusing efforts on the retention of our health workforce. In recognition of the acute nursing shortages across Canada, the “Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada” provides a framework for the development and improvement of retention strategies.
• Budget 2023 provided $25 billion over 10 years to advance shared health priorities with provinces and territories, including supporting our health workers who work tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy.

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• There are currently shortages of over 23,000 family physicians and 28,000 registered nurses. These shortages are projected to deepen over the next 10 years.

• There are an estimated 198,000 internationally educated health professionals employed in Canada, but only 58 per cent—114,000 workers—have employment in the field in which they were trained.