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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Shared Health has no \u201cresponsive records\u201d to show workforce modelling or a forecast of current and future staffing needs, a freedom of information request found.<\/p>\n
Shared Health\u2019s answer to the request extends to forecasted service use for medical, support, nursing and allied-health positions. Such roles include occupational therapists, pharmacists, midwives, various nursing professions, family physicians, diagnostic imaging technologists and health-care aides, among others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public body is working on developing a HHR (health human resource) plan, however (we) do not have an approved workforce modelling,\u201d Shared Health\u2019s freedom of information response says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should be already done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah Schulz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, deemed the response \u201creally frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say, \u2018We are working on a HHR plan.\u2019 That should be already done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Noah Schulz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, said a health human resources plan should have already been done.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Shared Health was established in 2018. It is mandated to develop a provincial health human resources plan under the Health System Governance and Accountability Act.<\/p>\n Creating and implementing the plan is part of Shared Health\u2019s 2025-30 strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment \u2026 they put out net new numbers for health-care staff. Those numbers are absolutely meaningless without a workforce plan to measure it against,\u201d said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP).<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to know how many health-care professionals the province will need without a guide, Linklater added.<\/p>\n The MAHCP pushed for a plan ahead of the province\u2019s 2024 and 2025 budgets. (British Columbia and Alberta have allied health workforce plans.)<\/p>\n Ideally, Manitoba\u2019s plan would include current vacancies and turnover rates, forecasted staffing requirements and a review of training programs, including graduate retention, Linklater said.<\/p>\n Shared Health is compiling and analyzing data on current and future requirements of Manitoba\u2019s health workforce. It already works with the provincial government to analyze population data and public health needs, a Shared Health spokesperson wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara echoed the organization Thursday.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the Manitoba government expects an overarching health human resource plan from Shared Health.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality of it is \u2026 workforce planning for over 55,000 people over hundreds of different roles is incredibly complex work. There is workforce planning happening across the board \u2026 (and) there\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all approach,\u201d Asagwara said.<\/p>\n The Manitoba government expects an overarching health human resource plan from Shared Health. The plan should include training, recruitment and retention strategies, Asagwara said.<\/p>\n Data collection is ongoing and is used to inform government funding and policy decisions, Asagwara said.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkforce planning for over 55,000 people over hundreds of different roles is incredibly complex work.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, having a holistic, public and long-term plan for health-care staffing is necessary, advocates argued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sometimes harder to take the long view in the election cycle, but it\u2019s what\u2019s needed for good policy. If we want to be serious about retention, as well as recruitment, we have to have that long-term view,\u201d Schulz said.<\/p>\n Schulz has clocked vacancy rate increases within some professions and shared data the Manitoba Health Coalition received via a freedom of information request: Shared Health technologist and technical assistant vacancies rose from 18.8 per cent in December 2023 to 19.8 per cent in December 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe numbers are not where they need to be for patients to feel secure,\u201d Schulz said.<\/p>\n Mid-career nurses are leaving, which is \u201cvery worrying\u201d because they\u2019re taking knowledge and experience with them, said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the CBC reported that for every 100 public-sector nurses the province gained between April 2024 and May 2025, about 57 nurses left. CBC gathered its information through a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n (Shared Health didn\u2019t confirm the numbers, but said they reflect movement \u201cover a defined period\u201d and don\u2019t represent a simple loss.)<\/p>\n Jackson pointed to nurses\u2019 workloads and disillusionment over the care they can provide in the system they\u2019re given. A health human resources plan should involve educators, including nursing schools, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cRetention is a huge, huge issue,\u201d said Sonia Udod, a University of Manitoba professor who is studying nursing retention.<\/p>\n Mentorship, showing value to employees and increasing the visibility of nurse managers are all important steps to keeping people from leaving, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there is a quick fix to anything,\u201d Udod added.<\/p>\n Doctors Manitoba does its own workforce projections. Manitoba needs at least 240 more doctors to match the Canadian average, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The Progressive Conservatives announced a health human resource action plan in 2022. It\u2019s unclear whether Shared Health was involved.<\/p>\n The plan was flagged in a health department briefing for the New Democrat government after the 2023 election. Asagwara said key data wasn\u2019t gathered by the PCs, leaving more work to the new party in power.<\/p>\n \u201cShared Health was always envisioned as a long-term solution to provide forward-looking planning and reduce the inefficient duplication of services in the health-care system,\u201d Tory leader Obby Khan wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the NDP have shown no interest in tackling that bureaucracy so more resources can be deployed to the front lines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 With files from Carol Sanders<\/p>\n gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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