Manitoba’s government was elected in October 2023 with a strong mandate to ‘fix healthcare’. Central to this commitment is resetting the relationship with Manitoba’s healthcare workers. 

For nearly every sector in healthcare, new collective agreements have been signed over the last nine months that take a step towards resetting this relationship, setting the foundation for staffing up the public system. 

Allied health workers – specialized health professionals from paramedics to diagnostic technologists to occupational therapists and beyond – however remain the last sector working without a new contract. 

A 96% strike mandate from Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) members, the union for around 7000 of the nearly 8000 allied health professionals working across Manitoba, released on January 29th reveals that amongst this section of healthcare patience is wearing extremely thin. 

In the face of growing healthcare expenditures, settling a new contract with allied health workers that can prevent staff from leaving and attract others to work in the public system must remain a critical priority. 

The work performed by allied health professionals is key to bringing down wait times and achieving healthcare improvements put forward in the last election. Allied health workers are highly specialized professionals who, in most cases, require years of training – losing more staff now will leave Manitobans with high wait times for years to come. 

Deep frustration amongst allied health workers is due to high staff vacancies, increasing workloads, and declining morale. 

MAHCP surveys from May and December 2024 reported that a large majority of staff are experiencing workload increases and declining morale. Nearly half reported losing colleagues in the last year.   

Under the previous government, allied health workers went five years without a contract leaving most without a wage increase through the pandemic. This story should be a familiar one by now – wage stagnation mixed with high vacancy rates have proven to be a toxic cocktail in health care, leading to burnout, early retirements, and many exiting healthcare altogether. New contracts signed by nurses, doctors, and other health workers have reflected this context and offered wages geared to recruitment and retention. The same needs to be applied in allied health. 

Reports of high vacancy rates across allied health professions remain a persistent issue, despite the Manitoba government’s recent staffing updates.

In January, rural paramedic vacancy rates raised alarms due to rural EMS stations in Virden and Russell running at 50 per cent vacancy. The EMS station in Shoal Lake was operating with only one of 13 positions filled. Across all rural regions, 28 per cent of paramedic positions are reportedly vacant. A recent access to information request revealed that rural ambulances were out of service due to staff shortages a record 30,000 hours per month on average in 2024. 

Other data disclosed a 23 per cent vacancy rate across technical/professional staff in Southern Health, represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union. At the same time, over 4000 people were waiting for services provided by technical and professional staff in Southern Health. 

Staff vacancies have been highlighted as a key component of high wait times for diagnostic procedures such as CT scans and MRIs. Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that in 2023 (the most recent interprovincial data) Manitoba’s median wait times for MRIs were highest amongst provinces, while CT scan waits were second highest. Manitoba’s median wait times for MRIs reached 27 weeks in September 2024, a four-year peak. Long wait times for diagnostic procedures create bottlenecks in health care, making them a key to lowering wait times across the system. 

There is no question that recruitment and retention cost money. Manitoba’s per capita healthcare expenditures are beginning to climb again after years of austerity, but remain below the Canadian average. There remains a long way to go to return to pre-2016 trends in health spending. 

In 2015, Manitoba’s per capita health expenditure was third highest amongst provinces – in 2024, Manitoba is forecast to be second lowest. Further, prior to 2016 Manitoba’s per capita health spending was consistently above the Canadian average – in 2024 Manitoba’s spending is starting to trend towards the Canadian benchmark but remains far below. 

The audits of health authorities released on February 5 reveal that health authority expenditure is increasing in large part due to salaries and supply costs. These salary expenditures are necessary to staff up the public system and reduce spending on private agencies. 

Rebuilding the healthcare workforce and relieving pressure on existing staff needs to remain at the core of fixing Manitoba’s healthcare system. This will require significant additional spending, but the alternative is a continued loss of staff and services. 

Previously published by the Winnipeg Free Press February 19, 2020