Alberta Health Care in Staffing Turmoil Following Premier Smith’s Reforms, Says New Report

Alberta health care has a morale crisis, according to a recent survey of allied health-care professionals.

A new report published by the Parkland Institute uncovered serious problems faced by the province’s trained health-care workers who aren’t physicians or nurses. These include lab technologists, counsellors and paramedics, among others.

Titled Undervalued and Overstressed, the report draws data from multiple sources, including member information provided by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) — the union representing the majority of the province’s allied health-care workers — as well as 1,788 of its members’ responses to a survey and 23 interviews that researchers conducted with allied health-care professionals.

One in three survey respondents said they often think about quitting their job. The report also highlights systemic discrimination and gender-based wage inequity. The prevalence of burnout, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder was also examined.

These workers, according to the report’s estimate, make up between one third and one half of the province’s health-care workforce. The exact number is difficult to track due to turnover.

“We found pay inequities within the allied health-care workforce due to gender,
disability status, and visible minority status,” the report says. “Once we account for age, education, and length of time in the profession, women make less than men, people with disabilities make less than those without disabilities, and visible minorities make less than non-visible minorities.”

The report was authored by University of Calgary anthropology professor Dr. Jenny Godley, PhD student Farnaz Dastras and researcher Lori Jane Pasaraba.

Based on the survey, over 80% of allied health-care workers reported experiencing everyday discrimination at work “at least a few times a year,” with some saying it’s a weekly occurrence.

The gender disparity in the workforce is striking. Among the more than 23,000 HSAA members for whom gender information was available, 79% identify as female. About 1% identify as non-binary.

Friction in Alberta health care was exacerbated during the pandemic under Premier Jason Kenney, when changes to the way doctors were paid drove physicians out of the province. Then Kenney’s successor, Danielle Smith, radically restructured Alberta Health Services (AHS), causing disorder.

Smith fired the AHS board and split the agency into four new ones, respectively covering primary care, acute care, continuing care and mental health and addiction. (The agency responsible for continuing care is not yet operational.)

Smith’s reforms have created uncertainty for key workers in a system already strained by the pandemic, as the province still struggles to attract and retain skilled medical staff.

The report’s recommendations include creating employee-driven task forces to mitigate the problems of pay inequality and job stress, and establishing a formal advisory council to provide input from workers on the reforms at the provincial level. It also underlines a need for “robust” anti-discrimination strategies and an increase to staffing levels.