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Health & Healthcare

Staffing shortages platforms

Here's what the 2023 PEI election parties are promising.

PC
  • Create a recruitment and retention strategy for high vacancy positions

    "Develop a recruitment and retention strategy for high vacancy positions, including lab technology, social work, psychology and therapists, by working with post-secondary partners in the region" — With You. For You., 2023-03-24

  • Make on-Island tuition free for RCWs, LPNs, and Paramedics who serve in PEI for two years, and provide bursaries for LPNs, RNs, and Paramedics who study off-Island
  • Work with post-secondary institutions to help retrain RCWs as LPNs and LPNs as RNs, while keeping them at work
  • Allow foreign-trained physicians to practice under a new Associate Physician license, while being supervised by fully-licensed physicians

    "Launch an Associate Physician license to allow foreign-trained physicians expedited licensing to practice to a defined scope under the supervision of other fully licensed physicians" — peipc.ca, 2023-03-09

  • Legislate recognition of domestic and foreign RCW, LPN, and RN credentials
  • Guarantee that students studying in healthcare will get full-time positions the day after they graduate
  • Provide free licenses for returning healthcare workers who want to do casual or part-time work

Green
  • Look for managers who have health credentials to cover shifts

    "Look for managers that can go back to the frontline to cover shifts. There are many healthcare professionals who move into administrative roles. These positions could be created with a requirement to continue working a minimum number of hours of clinical practice. This would likely be negotiated during hiring." — peigreens.ca backgrounder, 2023-03-13

  • Regularly review wages to ensure they're competitive with other provinces
  • Cover expenses for English language tests for RNs and LPNs

    "Currently any RN or LPN who does not identify English as their first language must complete an English language competency test to be registered on PEI. The cost of this test is $280 and is only administered in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. Any student graduating from an RN or LPN program on PEI who requires this testing will have the test and associated travel costs covered by the province." — peigreens.ca backgrounder, 2023-03-13

  • Create a bridging programme to train practising LPNs as RNs

    "The LPN to RN bridging program will help licensed practical nurses already in the health system upgrade their skills to those of a registered nurse. The program will be designed in consultation with key stakeholders such as healthcare unions, Health PEI, and post-secondary institutions." — peigreens.ca backgrounder, 2023-03-13

  • Cut back on administrative work for health professionals
  • Work with medical colleges to simplify licensing of internationally-trained health professionals, and reduce fees

    "Work with the medical colleges to speed up and simplify the process for internationally trained health professionals.

    Reduce fees that internationally trained health professionals must pay to practise on PEI." — peigreens.ca, 2023-03-08

  • Offer employment to all UPEI Nurse Practitioner graduates, and hire more NPs

    "Offer employment to all Nurse Practitioner graduates of UPEI. Once the range of care is increased to allow nurse practitioners to work independently, immediately hire additional nurse practitioners to take on patient panels directly from the patient registry." — peigreens.ca, 2023-03-08

  • Provide regional bursaries for RNs to train to become NPs

    "Implement regional bursaries to registered nurses to train to become nurse practitioners at UPEI. Target RNs currently living or working in underserved regions." — peigreens.ca, 2023-03-08

  • Allow and hire physician assistants to work in PEI

    "Amend legislation to allow Physician Assistants (PA) to work in healthcare on PEI. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia already allow PAs to work in their healthcare systems." — peigreens.ca, 2023-03-08

  • Invest $37M in wage increases and benefits for front-line staff, including an immediate 15% wage increase

    "Immediately invest $37 million directly into wage increases and benefits for frontline healthcare staff at Health PEI. This includes all levels of nursing, medical lab technologists, radiation technologists, porters, cleaning staff, and all others who work on the frontline of patient care." — peigreens.ca, 2023-03-08

  • Start a study to figure out if a medical school is the best way to address staffing shortages

Liberal
  • Legislate nurse-to-patient ratios

    "Establish a workplace where nursing workloads are based upon legislated nurse-to-patient ratios" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22

  • Allow nurses licensed in other provinces to practice in PEI

    "Establish inter-provincial labour mobility among nurses licensed to practice in other provinces to practice in PEI" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22

  • Cover tuition costs for any nurse who returns to work in PEI

    "Increase student enrollment in expanded PEI nursing programs through a Team Nursing Scholarship program that covers the tuition costs for any nurse who returns to work in PEI’s healthcare system" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22

  • Address financial compensation for nurses

    "Address financial compensation so that nursing becomes a financially-rewarding career that attracts new entrants, retains our current nurses, and brings retired nurses back into active practice" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22

  • Work with nursing organisations to create a Nursing Sustainability Strategy

    "Engage with RN and LPN Nursing organizations to develop a Nursing Sustainability Strategy with the nursing profession that is based on a 10-year workforce projection in order to define projected shortages and recruitment/retention/compensation challenges and solutions" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22

NDP
  • Create a travel nurse programme
  • Hire physician assistants to ease pressure on regional hospitals
  • Fast-track licensing of foreign-trained health professionals

Looking for the parties' positions on other topics?

See our full 2023 PEI election platform comparison


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