Yes, Canada has a shortage of health workers. But delivering the right care, in the right place, at the right time takes more than simple addition.
Why Canada needs coordinated health workforce planning
Current health workforce planning is siloed, focused on one profession or region, and tends to ignore the growing burden of administration in medicine, changing professional lifespans, demographics and population health needs. An integrated, national approach to health workforce planning would better reflect the realities of complex care delivered by interdependent health professionals — and support more equitable access to services as well as provider wellbeing.
How Canadians view health workforce shortages
76%
83%
87%
The CMA’s impact on workforce planning
Calls by the CMA and our partners across the health sector are moving the dial on a more integrated, national approach to health human resources.
In December 2023, the federal government launched Health Workforce Canada, an independent organization led by a board of directors including past CMA president Dr. Alika Lafontaine, to facilitate data sharing and planning for long-term, equitable and sustainable care across the country.
The latest health funding agreements between Ottawa and the provinces and territories include commitments to scaling up physician mobility, providing new training opportunities, improving the availability and sharing of labour market data, and expediting credentials for internationally trained health professionals — critical elements to building health workforce capacity and supporting more agile, interconnected care at a national level.
To continue developing coordinated solutions to shared challenges, the CMA brings together national and provincial organizations for summits and virtual dialogues, with further engagement to come.
What the CMA is calling for next
Collaboration by all levels of government is essential to address the ongoing health workforce crisis across the country. Here are eight urgent recommendations:
- Develop a sustainable, comprehensive and integrated HHR strategic plan
- Implement targeted measures to address administrative burden affecting the health workforce
- Develop and invest in a national primary care strategy to improve the working environments of health care professionals
- Develop a pan-Canadian virtual health care framework
- Build health workforce capacity through education reform
- Develop a national framework to improve health workforce mobility
- Create and implement a pan-Canadian mental health, wellness and safety strategy for our health workforce
- Adopt a common framework for national health workforce data