The Vice-President of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance says the current human resources shortage within its hospitals is similar to what is being felt at other institutions across the province.
And Mary Cardinal adds it's not going to go away anytime soon.
Cardinal says it's going to take several years to address the shortage and healthcare providers and healthcare patients are going to have to adjust. She also points out, the shortage is being felt throughout the healthcare sector.
“Nursing. I mean that's certainly front and centre in the media, but it's also right now, MRI techs and pharmacy techs and medical laboratory technologists. Those are some hot spots right now, for sure,” said Cardinal.
“We have known for a number of years that we would be in a nursing shortage. We also have one in five healthcare providers over the age of 50 and we've had higher than usual retirements across the healthcare sector because of COVID.”
Cardinal notes, while some healthcare providers did leave rather than get vaccinated, that was a small percentage of people.
And some healthcare workers have left their professions and moved on to other opportunities or other organizations.