(April 01, 2022) – Paul Dinn, PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Health and Community Services and MHA for Topsail-Paradise, says frontline healthcare workers are calling out for relief and government has a chance to listen to them in the coming budget.

“For months, healthcare professionals have been describing extraordinary overtime, about staff burnout, and about concerns for their mental health due to the circumstances they face every day in our healthcare system. The frontline workers are doing their best to provide care, but the Liberal government has not had their backs,” said Dinn.

“Like many issues through this pandemic, it’s only exposing the underlying issues that were already there. COVID-19 is not an excuse for issues that existed pre-pandemic. The Minister of Health has failed to address these concerns in seven years since taking office, and now staffing issues and burnout are taking it to a crisis level. Yet, still, the Minister refuses action.”

Dinn says the issues are only made worse when other provinces recruit healthcare professionals away from Newfoundland and Labrador.

“The NLMA has stated $27 million to help with healthcare backlogs is not enough to solve these issues. It’s not an issue you can just throw money at. The healthcare system needs human resources, meanwhile Haggie waited seven years to start putting together a plan. Meanwhile, other provinces are here recruiting healthcare workers to the mainland,” said Dinn.

“The Minister needs to implement a recruitment plan, he needs to be working with our post-secondary education institution to retain our graduates, he needs to ensure an increase, not a decrease, in healthcare workers in our province to help frontline workers, help our healthcare system, and help the patients who rely on the healthcare system every single day.”

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Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca