SRPC Responds to Health Canada’s Caring for Canadians Report

Response to the release of the report on: Caring for Canadians: Canada’s Future Health Workforce – The Canadian Health Workforce Education, Training and Distribution Study

The crisis in rural health services is real and growing. The shortage of physicians and other health care providers like nurses, nurse practitioners and physiotherapists, in rural areas is having a significant impact on people living in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, affecting health outcomes across the lifespan. Despite three decades of calls for action from rural physicians and the communities they serve, a comprehensive health human resource (HHR) plan for Canada has not been developed. On January 30, 2025, at the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers meeting, the study “Caring for Canadians:  Canada’s Future Health Workforce – The Canadian Health Workforce Education, Training and Distribution Study” was released.

The SRPC welcomes the release of this ground-breaking report, which clearly demonstrates the crisis in health human resources that rural, remote and Indigenous communities face. Compared with urban regions, the gap in rural health workforce is wide, and is projected to worsen into the coming decades. Urgent action is required, and this report highlights the need for the creation of a national rural health workforce strategy, to ensure that the needs of Canada’s rural, remote, and Indigenous communities can be met.

As the voice of Canadian rural physicians, the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada calls for:

  • Creation of a National Rural Health Workforce Strategy specific to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, led by organizations and communities directly involved. This must include planning for locums and interprofessional teams within the workforce, implementation of pan-Canadian licensure, and supporting the effective use of technology to ensure efficiency and impact. A set of federally, provincially, and regionally supported networks is required to foster collaboration among rural physicians and the rest of the health care team, policymakers, government leaders, and communities.
  • Enhancements to rural medical education, including infrastructure and financial support for rural preceptors, and implementation of a training and education pathway that considers admissions, placement, and data tracking to support the next generation of physicians.
  • Support for enhanced skills training, including ongoing funding of the National Advanced Skills and Training Program pilot, to allow rural healthcare teams to adapt to the changing healthcare needs of their communities, offer mentorship, and support sustainable practice.

There is no more time to lose. We must address the gaps identified in this pivotal national study. Rural- and remote-living Canadians and Indigenous people have waited too long for a coherent health workforce strategy and they deserve nothing less than a full collective effort to meet their health service needs now.

The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC), which is the national voice of Canadian rural physicians, has been serving and advocating on behalf of rural healthcare providers and communities for over 30 years.

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