For Immediate Release
10 November, 2022
NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn appreciates the government announcement this morning to provide recruitment and retention supports for CUPE and the Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP), however without a longer term plan the NL NDP says the issues healthcare workers are facing will not be addressed.
“Our health care workers have been sounding the alarm that they were exhausted before the COVID-19 pandemic, and we still don’t have a comprehensive human resources plan for healthcare,” said Dinn. “Anything that helps retain the health care workers that we do have is positive, however there must be longer term steps developed. One off announcements, like a new hospital to replace St. Clare’s, distract from the fact that the Liberal government does not have a long term plan to ensure workers in our public healthcare system have a work life balance.”
Dinn is concerned that government continues to use global pressures as an excuse for the persistent difficulties in the health care recruitment.
“Where is the RFP for the Health Human Resource Plan? Where are the collaborative care team clinics? This piece meal approach by government is not instilling confidence.
“We cannot keep saying that healthcare is bad across the country. We must listen to what health care professionals in our system have been saying,” said Dinn. “The NL NDP will continue to listen to workers and call for the solutions they are providing.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca