The Provincial Government is providing $30,000 to Eastern Health to support students in the Radiation Therapy Program for each of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. This will double Eastern Health’s capacity to support students in the program.
Radiation therapy student support funding will ensure adequate supply, recruitment, and retention of radiation therapists in Newfoundland and Labrador. The funds will be used for education-related items including student fees, tuition and books.
Eastern Health has partnered with the Michener Institute in Toronto, Ontario, to place qualifying students from Newfoundland and Labrador in the Radiation Therapy Program.
Radiation therapy services are included in the planning for the replacement of the Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook. The new hospital will host an expanded cancer care program including increased systemic therapy services and new radiation therapy services.
This is another health care initiative to address the health professional shortage in Newfoundland and Labrador. Other recent measures can be found in the backgrounder below.
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“Our commitment is to provide a high quality of care for the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador. That includes improving radiation therapy services throughout the province. We are committed to health programs that focus on the social determinants of health and improving the healthiness of our people.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
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Tina Coffey
Health and Community Services
709-729-6554, 687-9903
tcoffey@gov.nl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Recent Measures to Address the Shortage of Health Care Professionals
- A one-year pilot program to help entice retired family physicians to come back to the workforce.
- Committed to a suite of measures to expand the supply of health care professionals: creation of new collaborative community team clinics; increase in virtual care services to assist with the provision of urgent care; commitment to further increase the number of graduates from Licensed Practical Nursing Programs by 40 per cent, and Personal Care Attendant Programs by 20 per cent.
- Two new programs launched to support family doctors in the province and help improve access to primary health care:
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- The New Family Physician Income Guarantee initiative guarantees a minimum income equivalent to that of a salaried family physician to new family doctors who bill on a fee for service basis and open a family practice clinic – or join an established clinic – for the first two years of their practice. This will ease some of the uncertainty associated with the business aspects of opening a clinic by increasing financial certainty. Funding recipients will be required to enter into a two-year return-in-service agreement with government.
- The Family Practice Start-Up Program will provide $150,000 to new family practice physicians who open a family practice clinic, or join an existing family practice in the community, and stay in the practice for five years. Recipients who are approved for both programs must sign a five-year return-in-service agreement with government. Additionally, both programs will be linked to establishing a patient roster in the community, as well as the provision of after-hours care. This is the highest incentive offered to family physicians at this time in Atlantic Canada.
- Initiatives announced in March 2022 to address the challenges facing nurses in the province, including the nursing think tank; Requests for proposals for core staffing review, health human resource plan, workforce research; and an Internationally Educated Nurses Bursary.
- A new Assistant Deputy Minister for the recruitment and retention office has been hired and the office has been established within the Department of Health and Community Services.
- An additional five undergraduate seats have been added to the Memorial University’s medical School for Newfoundland and Labrador students.
- Launched the Extraordinary Every Day, a health care campaign aimed at recruiting and retaining health care professionals.
- Staffing in the regional health authorities has been enhanced to further support recruitment and retention efforts.
- A number of financial incentives and employee supports have been implemented to help address the immediate nursing workforce challenges and help stabilize the workforce.
- Compensation rates for covering emergency rooms in smaller rural health centres (category B facilities) have been increased as a temporary measure until October 31, 2022 to help retain existing physicians at these sites, as well as attract other locum physicians during periods of vacancy. As well, in Labrador, Category A rates were increased in the last MOA.