Discussions are taking place which may see some lab work currently carried out at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre, at least temporarily, be sent to Regina.
The situation is an interesting one, on a couple of levels.
On the surface it is another case where people to fill particular jobs in health care are often in short supply.
In this case it’s lab techs that are in short supply.
As Ross Fisher, Executive Director with the Health Foundation, noted in a recent Yorkton This Week interview, "There’s not enough young people coming in to replace the old (retirees)."
Fisher added it's not just a Yorkton shortage, but a provincial one, noting there are some 30 unfilled lab positions across the province at present.
The situation is not new. We have seen shortages in the nursing profession, for doctors and other areas of health care through the year, and the situation is always most keenly felt in the smaller centres as professionals tend to look to larger centres where there are more in their field to share workloads than can be large in health care, and of course the longer list of non-work-related opportunities in bigger communities.
In this case the issue isn’t just professionals congregating in larger centers but there aren’t enough graduating from post-secondary institutions to fill the openings.
This is far more troubling because there is a two-to-four year lag minimum for a student in high school right now seeing the shortage as an opportunity, taking the necessary courses and enter the workforce. That is a rather extended shortage health care in Saskatchewan has to deal with.
The situation suggests the provincial system, now guided by a single board that we hope makes it better situated to react to issues needs to look at its workforce and better plan for shortages. It’s not so hard to look at the age of a group and estimate when retirements are coming.
When a shortage is seen coming down the path, it is then time to be proactive in recruiting students and looking into programs where they will move to fill specific community needs once graduating their training.
Of course the specific lab tech issue in Yorkton is also worrisome, because if services head to Regina, they may well not return, even if staff is found, and at present it is being suggested it is a temporary solution.
Centralization of health care services has been a trend for years now, and if the move of services to Regina works, there will be questions about why it should brought back to Yorkton? If it works, and fits into the larger trend, one can’t help wonder about the service long term.
The challenges of rural health care are many and this is just another example.
