🧑🔎💵⚕️Supporting Canada's Health Workers by Improving Health Workforce Research, Planning and Data

Friday, 26 July 2024 10:22.AM

Canada's healthcare system is heavily dependent on its healthcare workers, who are increasingly affected by heavier workloads and responsibilities.

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, announced nearly $750,000 in federal funding for Clinique Mauve.

Clinique Mauve was created in 2020 in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on migrant and racialized LGBTQIA+ communities. It offers intersectoral, community-based and integrated care, particularly for Spanish- and Arabic-speaking newcomers who face language barriers and have complex physical and mental health care needs. Many of these people are trans and non-binary, and require trans-affirmative care. The clinic also provides training for healthcare professionals, community workers and students. The clinic's innovative model of care, designed jointly by researchers, students, practitioners, community workers and people from the communities involved, includes pair navigation, a type of peer intervention.

Supported by the Université de Montréal's Vice-rectorat aux partenariats communautaires et internationaux, the Centre de recherche en santé publique, the Institut universitaire SHERPA and AGIR Montréal, Clinique Mauve has become a social and research laboratory that fosters cross-sector collaborations in practice, training and research.

The new grant, awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), will enable Clinique Mauve to expand its research on access to care for populations marginalized by sexual orientation, gender identity, migratory status and/or ethnoracial identity, by fostering capacity building and collaboration with allied research teams and key stakeholders across Canada and abroad.

Earlier today, Minister Randy Boissonnault announced that 15 projects, including the Clinique Mauve and a centre for evidence and knowledge mobilization, have been funded with a total investment of more than $11.5 million from the CIHR and partners. This funding is the CIHR's largest investment in health workforce research, a field focused on generating evidence on how best to organize, manage, train and support an equitable and resilient health workforce.

The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories and other key partners to address health workforce challenges. In Budgets 2023 and 2024, the government outlined its plan to invest close to $200 billion to improve health care for Canadians, including supporting the health workforce through retention, recruitment and planning.

"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 our health workforce, the Government of Canada is working to improve access to timely and equitable care and better health outcomes for people in Canada."
- The Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health

Quick facts

• A February 2024 report from the OurCare Initiative found that 6.5 million Canadians—about 22% 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 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, and 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:
  •   the 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;
  •   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% increase to the maximum amount of forgivable Canada Student Loans for eligible family physicians, family medicine residents, nurses and nurse practitioners working in under-served 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 the Canadian 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.

SOURCE: Environment and Climate Change Canada

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