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.

SOURCE Canadian Heritage