aahp demands immediate action from government to address serious hr issues
December 4, 2024
For Immediate Release Press Release
AAHP Demands Immediate Action from Government to Address Serious HR Issues
St. John’s, NL – The union representing more than 25 healthcare professions and over 800 professionals, is extremely concerned for the wellbeing of its membership and the system in which they work. The Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP) is demanding that immediate action be taken to address the state of the provincial healthcare system and its workforce. Key issues include:
- Unmanageable Workloads: The union describes increasing workloads that are steadily snowballing and becoming unsustainable for its members.
- Workforce Planning Deficiencies: A critical concern is the lack of proactive planning to replace retiring or resigning professionals, exacerbating staffing shortages.
- Worsening Staffing Challenges: The union notes that the ongoing staffing crisis is deepening without clear solutions or real actionable support from government.
- Lack of Confidence in Government Action: AAHP has major doubts about the government’s commitment to stabilizing the healthcare system, which is vital for ensuring quality patient care.
- Call for Public Awareness: The union urges the public to recognize these challenges, implying that broader awareness and advocacy may be necessary to address the systemic issues.
The concerns raised reflect a broader trend in healthcare, where understaffing and overburdened professionals often lead to burnout, reduced quality of care, and potentially dangerous situations for both workers and patients. The AAHP wants to see these challenges addressed using a multi-pronged approach, including improved workforce planning, investment in training and recruitment, and meaningful dialogue between the government and all healthcare unions.
While the AAHP has countless documented issues regarding increasing and unmanageable workloads, there seems to be little to no actual planning to replace retiring or resigning health professionals plus the many other staffing challenges across the province. With growing and worsening human resource issues and a lack of confidence in government’s commitment to stabilize the healthcare system, the AAHP is very worried and believes that the public should be as well.
“The stress and frustration of our membership is palpable at this time,” said Gord Piercey, AAHP President. “We are seeing clinically strong, senior staff struggling to navigate the insurmountable demands placed upon them in the workplace. These are front line leaders who are considering early retirement or other employment opportunities because the provincial healthcare system is becoming more strained with no indication that improvements or stability is coming.”
The AAHP says they hear from members regularly, who are seeing significant workload increases as staff numbers continue to shrink; professionals being held in positions due to critical shortages and denied the right to move to positions that would offer better compensation and working conditions. Piercey notes that many clinical and patient care teams inside the Health Care system are also struggling under the pressures being placed on them. Many interdisciplinary teams are consistently being asked to do more with less, which is demoralizing and exhausting.
“We have raised concerns multiple times about the way the health authority is too focused on building and structuring its management teams, versus ensuring the system has sufficient front-line workers to actually provide the much-needed patient care required,” adds Piercey. “Our concerns, like those of many others are being ignored, while short-term and short-sighted decisions are being actioned.”
AAHP is calling upon Government to prioritize and address critical resource and workload challenges inside the provincial health care system that are becoming increasingly worse, before it’s too late.
“Our hope is that the provincial government and health authority are held accountable and begin actually prioritizing the professionals who are holding this system together, but are getting too tired to continue,” concludes Piercey. “The people of this province deserve to know why the public healthcare system is deteriorating and what is not being done to stabilize it. Increased workloads: including the creation of new services requires appropriate planning and resources. Any retention and recruitment initiatives are futile if this is not happening.”
-30-
Media Contact
Erin Curran
erin@lupinecommunications.com
709-325-7193