Atlantic Canada Healthcare Priorities

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our global communities in a substantial way. Rocking our healthcare system, this crisis demanded we allocate countless resources to fighting it. As we’ve faced lockdowns, lost businesses and a devasted economy, we are still recovering. 

Three years later, circumstances are very different, and the economy is recovering in remarkable ways. As such, the governments of most provinces across Canada are now prioritizing their spending in new, surprising ways. 

As an example, across all the provinces of the Atlantic region, healthcare spending is now higher than it has been for many years. In New Brunswick for instance, ‘the budget allocat[ed] nearly $3.6 billion to the health care system, a 10.6% increase over last year’s budget’.^[1] The same is true in Nova Scotia, where the budget is ‘invest[ing] a total of $6.5 billion into health care. That's $1.2 billion, or 21.8%, more than two years ago’.^[2]

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the provincial government has added $3.9 billion to the health care budget, which is a $300 million increase on the previous year and the ‘largest ever investment in health care’.^[3] This is an impressive commitment, and like in other provinces, it is targeting a wide range of areas, from hospital upgrades to specialist centres, from assistance packages to improved transportation, as well as upgraded seniors’ care and recruitment and retention programs.

It is the latter point that is causing some tension across the province. While investing in recruitment and retention is always welcome, many argue that these allocations don’t go far enough. This is especially the case in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has consistently rated as having the ‘worst health system performance’ and the ‘highest per capita spending on health care across Canada’.^[4] There is a need for further investigation into where these funds are going and how we can change these outcomes. 

The province is aware of this, and a Health Accord NL Task Force has been created, which is a vision for a province-wide health transformation. The goal of the Accord is to ‘use evidence, strategies and public engagement to create a 10-Year Health Accord that will improve health in Newfoundland and Labrador’.^[5] This process has already begun, and although ‘some of the recommendations from the Health Accord are scattered throughout the budget’,^[6] not everyone is happy with the allocations.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees for instance, declares that the budget ‘ignores health care workers’.^[7] Their statement goes on to say that although $23 million has been promised to health care workers, ‘none will go to essential workers who are responsible for cooking, cleaning, and changing and caring for residents. These people are leaving the sector because they can’t make ends meet’. Moreover, their statement claims that the increased rates for a personal care assistant is not in line with inflation. The real issue being recruitment initiatives on their own are not enough because ‘they don’t mean anything if we aren’t paying people what they’re worth’. 

In Nova Scotia, to attract more nurses, the provincial government is offering ‘$20,000 in bonuses to keep them in the province’s public health system — or to encourage them to return’.^[8] Half is being paid as an immediate bonus, with the other half paid if nurses sign on to stay in full-time employment for two years. There are also incentives for nurses coming back to the sector, but the New Brunswick Nurses Union is displeased with these incentives, especially for nurses who live in New Brunswick, but close to the Nova Scotia border. 

Overall, healthcare budgets, especially across the east coast have significantly increased and are continuing to rise, but some of the people who work within the system believe that not all the funds are in the right places or for the right reasons. The pandemic forced the sector to re-examine how it treats patients. Now might be the time to re-evaluate how it treats their staff.