VANCOUVER, BC, July 11,
2024 /CNW/ - Health workers are the backbone of the
Canadian health care system, yet they continue to face increased
workloads and responsibilities. Now more than ever, there is a need
to improve health workforce planning and advance research to better
support health workers.
Today, The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and
Physical Activity, and Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, visited BC Children's
Hospital Research Institute to announce $750,000 in support for its project, A New
Provincial Training Hub: Building capacity for clinicians who care
for children and youth with eating disorders. This project will
improve clinician well-being, expand system capacity and ensure the
availability of quality, evidence-based care for children and youth
with pediatric eating disorders.
This project is part of the $11.6
million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research and its partners to support 15 research teams and one
Evidence Support and Knowledge Mobilization Hub. These teams and
hub are investigating ways to strengthen and support Canada's health workforce and alleviate the
health workforce challenges that threaten the provision of timely,
equitable, accessible and quality health care.
By supporting health care workers, we're supporting a stronger
healthcare system. Government of Canada investments will inform retention and
recruitment practices, support the mobility of physicians across
Canada to help communities facing
shortages, and investigate solutions to strengthen the health
workforce. Information practices will also be improved to support
health employers and governments in the planning of the health
workforce across the country.
The Government of Canada will
address health workforce challenges alongside provinces and
territories and other key partners. Budgets 2023 and 2024 outlined
the government's plan to invest close to $200 billion to improve health care for
Canadians, which includes supporting the health workforce through
retention, recruitment and planning.
Quotes
"Working together to support health workers is crucial to people
in Canada receiving the care they
need, when they need it. Through these initiatives to strengthen
and support Canada's health
workforce, our government is working to improve access to timely
and equitable care and better health outcomes for people in
Canada."
The Honourable Mark Holland
Canada's Minister of Health
"Health workers step up every day to support us. So, we're going
to support them with better working conditions, better training,
and more mental health support. By taking care of health workers,
we'll improve the healthcare system for all of us."
The Honourable Carla Qualtrough
Minister of Sport and Physical Activity
Quick Facts
- A February 2024 report from the
OurCare Initiative found that 6.5 million Canadians—about 22
percent of the adult population—do not currently have a family
doctor. The State of the Health Workforce in Canada, 2022 also confirmed a national
shortage of 60,000 registered nurses. Canada anticipates a shortage of 78,000
doctors by 2031 and 117,600 nurses by 2030.
- Funding for the new research investment is provided by the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Partnership Against
Cancer and Michael Smith Health Research BC. This is CIHR's largest
investment in health workforce research. The projects funded
through this program align with the key themes identified by the
Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
Assessment on Health Human Resources, which was commissioned by
Health Canada.
- This announcement is part of the Government of Canada's larger and ongoing efforts to support
the health workforce, including:
- A federal, provincial and territorial statement on supporting
Canada's health workforce, which
outlines collaborative actions underway to address challenges
facing Canada's health workforce,
including reducing the time it takes for internationally educated
health professionals to join our health workforce.
- Welcoming the establishment of Health Workforce Canada, a new,
independent organization that is working closely with Canadian
Institute for Heath Information and all health care system
stakeholders to improve the collection and sharing of health
workforce data and share practical and innovative solutions.
- An announcement of a 50 percent increase to the maximum amount
of forgivable Canada Student Loans for eligible family physicians,
family medicine residents, nurses and nurse practitioners working
in underserved rural and remote communities. This change will help
approximately 3,000 doctors and nurses in the first year of
implementation, reaching up to 8,000 per year by 2032–2033.
- An investment of up to $86
million to 15 organizations across Canada to increase capacity for foreign
credential recognition of approximately 6,600 internationally
educated health professionals. This investment will support highly
educated and skilled immigrants receive proper recognition for
their international credentials.
- An investment of $3.5 million
over five years to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Canada to develop a National Plan
for Health Workforce Well-Being to help improve health workforce
retention.
- Initiatives to help internationally educated health
professionals put their skills to work in Canada more quickly, including $1.49 million to the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Canada to expand
and expedite the specialist Practice Eligibility Route for
International Medical Graduates, and $500,000 to the Medical Council of Canada to better understand the barriers to
existing programs.
- A plan, outlined in Budget 2023, to invest close to
$200 billion over 10 years to improve
health care for Canadians.
- The first-ever launch of category-based selection for
Canada's flagship economic
immigration management system, Express Entry. Category-based
selection allows Canada to issue
invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents with
specific work experience, including in health care.
- An investment of $2.4 million in
the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing to support the
implementation and evaluation of a National Nurse Residency
Program, which aims to support newly graduated registered nurses by
helping them effectively manage the transition from classroom to
workplace through competency-based workshops and mentorship.
Related Products
- Backgrounder: Supporting Canada's health workers by improving
health workforce research, planning and data
- Strengthening the Health Workforce for System Transformation
– Team Grant
- Strengthening the Health Workforce for System Transformation –
Team Profiles
Associated Links
- Health Workforce Canada established to improve health workforce
data and planning
- Federal, provincial, and territorial statement on supporting
Canada's health workforce
- Budget 2024: 2.1 Taking Care of Every Generation
- Health Workforce
- CIHR's Health Workforce Initiative
Backgrounder
Canada is facing substantial
health workforce challenges that threaten the ability of the system
to provide timely, equitable, accessible, quality services and care
to Canadians. The Government of Canada recognizes the need to improve health
workforce research, data and planning and is working
collaboratively with partners, including provinces and territories,
to support the health workforce and better plan for its future.
This is why the Government of Canada announced more than $47 million in federal funding for innovative
projects to help support and retain members of the health workforce
by improving research, planning and health workforce data.
Improving Health Workforce Data and Planning
Health
Workforce Canada
Funding: $22.5 million over five
fiscal years
Health Workforce Canada (HWC) is a not-for-profit, independent
organization and was announced by the Government of Canada as a new centre of excellence in
December 2023.
This $22.5-million investment over
five fiscal years will allow HWC to fulfill its mandate to convene
and collaborate with health sector partners to advance approaches
to current and future challenges by:
- identifying the sector's priority needs in support of
perspectives and solutions, working in partnership with Canadian
Institute for Heath Information and others to facilitate access to
data and information while respecting Indigenous data
sovereignty;
- providing insights and guidance to inform effective policy for
supply and distribution of the workforce, health equity-based
planning, health and mental health of the workforce, and
innovations in retention and recruitment; and
- gathering and sharing information on practical solutions and
innovative practices to address key gaps and implementation
challenges.
HWC is expected to conduct research on the current state, gaps
and opportunities of health workforce data, establish a process to
address data fragmentation within and between jurisdictions, and
work with partner organizations to develop evidence-based data
collection and networks to advance work in priority areas.
This HWC funding will help ensure health care system partners
have access to quality data and tools, are mobilized to address
data challenges, and can accurately forecast and plan for future
health workforce demands.
Operation and Expansion of the National Registry of
Physicians
Medical Council of Canada
Funding: $13 million over five fiscal
years
The National Registry of Physicians (NRP) will help provide a
more detailed understanding of the number of physicians in each
province and territory and enable decision makers to better plan
for future workforce needs. This foundational platform is a
significant milestone in the integration of health care data in
Canada and will enhance labour mobility and support health
professionals to work where they are most needed.
Through this project, the Medical Council of Canada will work with Medical Regulatory
Authorities (MRAs) to begin collecting physician information across
the country and populate that data into the registry. The NRP will
respect privacy rules and regulations, promote data integrity and
further support informed decision making by MRAs.
While MRAs regulate the practice of medicine within provincial
and territorial jurisdictions, the NRP will provide a foundational
solution for all that brings together data from across the country
to one centralized location.
The NRP is in both official languages and its foundation
includes a data model with physician profile elements indicating
the official languages in which the physician can deliver services.
This fundamental capability can facilitate the vitality of official
language minority communities. Engagement of participants will
occur across Canada, including
Quebec.
The NRP is an initiative that seeks to unite health care
stakeholders, streamline data collection and sharing, and promote
informed decision-making in Canada's health care system.
Optimizing Physician Registration in Canada
Federation of Medical Regulatory
Authorities of Canada
Funding: $331,883 over two fiscal
years
This project will support the ongoing efforts of Canada's medical regulatory authorities (MRAs)
to optimize physician licensing standards while reducing the
licensure-related red tape burden on physicians. The project will
support better alignment of standards and coordination of practices
across MRAs, which could help facilitate labour mobility for
physicians and improve licensing processes for international
medical graduates.
The Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada, which serves the collective interest
of MRAs, will work with the Medical Council of Canada on this project which complements the
council's work on the National Registry of Physicians.
Team Grant: Strengthening the Health Workforce for System
Transformation
15 projects along with one Evidence Support
and Knowledge Mobilization Hub
Funding: $11,550,546 over three
years
Generating evidence on how to organize, finance, manage, train
and support an equitable, diverse and inclusive health workforce is
a priority for Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)'s
Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. CIHR is
collaborating with partners, including the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Partnership Against
Cancer and Michael Smith Health Research BC, to fund
solutions-focused research, build capacity, foster knowledge
mobilization and support evidence-informed action that will help to
create a strengthened, healthy, resilient, diverse and equitable
health workforce.
Implementation science refers to the practice of taking an idea
and finding out how to make it work in the real world. With this
funding, implementation science teams will investigate the
implementation, evaluation and spread and/or scaling up of
evidence-informed workforce solutions that address system-level
challenges (e.g. - system organization, governance, accountability,
remuneration, capacity building), and aim to strengthen the health
workforce.
As part of this investment, an Evidence Support and Knowledge
Mobilization Hub will support and help spread the new knowledge
identified by the funded teams, ensure knowledge users' rapid
access to research evidence and support knowledge exchange among
the funded teams and other knowledge users.
Principal Investigator
|
Project Title
|
Funding
|
Kathleen Leslie,
Athabasca University (Alberta)
|
HUB application /
Advancing equitable and ethical regulatory policy: Evaluating the
implementation of new licensure and integration pathways for
internationally educated nurses in Canada
|
$362,157 (Hub) /
$743,674 (implementation science team)
|
Jennifer Coelho, BC
Children's Hospital Research Institute (British
Columbia)
|
Capacity Building in
the Pediatric Eating Disorders Workforce: System Transformation to
Improve the Continuum of Care
|
$750,000
|
Anurag Singh,
University of Northern British Columbia (British
Columbia)
|
Building capacity for a
sustainable and equitable healthcare workforce in rural, remote and
Indigenous communities by implementing innovative team-based hybrid
care
|
$745,056
|
Woo Jin Edward Lee,
Université de Montréal (Québec)
|
Clinic Mauve -
Transforming integrated care and the health workforce for LGBTQIA+
migrant and racialized communities
|
$749,370
|
Monika Krzyzanowska,
University Health Network (Ontario)
|
Optimizing the Cancer
Care Workforce Utilizing Existing Health Human Resources
|
$742,120
|
Catharine Walsh,
Hospital for Sick Children (Ontario)
|
Implementation of an
Evidence-Informed, Simulation-Based Coaching Leadership
Intervention to Address Pediatric Healthcare Workforce Burnout and
Support Performance
|
$749,875
|
Aaron Orkin, University
of Toronto (Ontario)
|
Evaluating delivery of
priority public health interventions to people experiencing
homelessness in Toronto by peer workers
|
$742,490
|
Arun Radhakrishnan,
Bruyère Research Institute (Ontario)
|
The Adaptive Mentoring
Networks: Evidence Informed Implementation Strategies to Address
the Canadian Health Workforce Crisis
|
$748,640
|
Stephanie Montesanti,
University of Alberta (Alberta)
|
Improving the clinical
care of Indigenous patients with complexity using a Hub-and-Spoke
Model of Care in Alberta Primary Care Networks (PCNs)
|
$749,162
|
F. Kris Aubrey-Bassler,
Memorial University of Newfoundland (Newfoundland and
Labrador)
|
Evaluating a complex,
team-based primary care intervention in Newfoundland and Labrador:
Advancing implementation science
|
$750,000
|
Rosanra Yoon, Toronto
Metropolitan University (Ontario)
|
Building Psychological
Safety in Long-Term Care: Strengthening Equity &
Trauma-informed Organizational Capacity to Support Workforce Mental
Health & Well-being
|
$743,630
|
Andrea Baumann,
McMaster University (Ontario)
|
Strengthening the
Health Workforce: Implementing an Intervention to Integrate Health
Workers into Community Care
|
$749,626
|
Alison Elliott,
University of British Columbia (British Columbia)
|
Strengthening the
Healthcare Workforce: Enhancing Genetic Counselling Access and
Efficiency
|
$750,000
|
Tracie Risling,
University of Calgary (Alberta)
|
REACHing Excellence: A
Transformative Mentoring Solution for Late-Career Nursing Workforce
Retention
|
$740,262
|
Lianne Jeffs, Sinai
Health System (Ontario)
|
Examining and Exploring
the Implementation and Impact of a Leadership Intervention on Work
Life and Fundamental Care Delivery
|
$734,484
|
SOURCE Canadian Heritage