A report from the C.D. Howe Institute indicates a shortage of nurses and doctors in Canada that dates from before the COVID-19 crisis and hampers patient access to healthcare.
Senior Policy Analyst Rosalie Wyonch says, “To address a pandemic, preserving and maintaining the healthcare system’s capacity is critical. Healthcare workers are the front line of defense against the worst consequences of a deadly global pandemic.”
According to the report, there are no pain medicine specialists at all in Saskatchewan. Our province generally, has a lower density of specialist physicians than the Canadian average. And, what few specialists we have, appear to work fewer clinical hours than in other provinces, according to the report.
Saskatchewan also has fewer general practice physicians relative to our population than other Canadian jurisdictions. The report says Saskatchewan pays above-average rates but has ratios of physician counts that imply most physicians provide only part-time services and procedures.
Saskatchewan has the highest proportion of foreign-trained physicians and also the largest net migration outflows. It has been noted that Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador have historically been the easiest provinces for non-Canadian physicians to enter. Historically, physicians would immigrate to one of these provinces, work for a few years to obtain their Canadian licence, and then leave for another province. The report notes that this could explain the high outflow of physicians from Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The report recommends:
• Provinces should undertake a critical and strategic examination of fee schedules for physician services, with the goal of reducing the average cost per service but strategically increasing remuneration for difficult-to-access services.
• Nurses and other care providers can increase the efficiency of healthcare delivery through expanding scopes of practice or filling gaps when there is a shortage of family or specialist physicians. Increasing wages would also help mitigate shortages in the field of nursing.
• Continue the shift toward team-based care to encourage effective communication and knowledge transfer between supervising specialists and care providers.
• Increase the number of places in medical schools, currently so low that a significant number of Canadians go abroad for medical school, incurring higher personal expenses and a lower likelihood of securing a residency position if they return to Canada to complete their training.
• Increase the number of residency positions, both for Canadian medical graduates and internationally trained ones, particularly in disciplines projected to be in short supply.
• Immigration of physicians and medical students should be also encouraged.
