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“When people don’t know where they are going to sleep at night and kids are going to bed hungry, it isn’t reasonable to expect people to be proactive about their own health." — Sandra Mullen, NSGEU 1st Vice President
Halifax (02 May 2022) — The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees' Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) applauds the government’s efforts to address the systemic, long-standing issues that plague our health care system today. It recognize these are problems that weren’t addressed by previous governments, and that they are not going to be solved overnight.
Plan is light on details
While the plan is a good first step towards making meaningful change, it is light on detail in many respects, and NSGEU/NUPGE has several concerns. However, they remain prepared to work with government in the execution of this plan going forward.
The Premier’s laudable goal to make Nova Scotia “a magnet for health providers,” is missing the key solution — government has to improve the compensation packages for all health care professionals. Our health care system is made up of a wide range of occupations, all of whom play critical roles in keeping our health care system functioning.
“This plan makes no specific commitments to how compensation will be improved, which makes it impossible for us to compete with other jurisdictions across the country for skilled health care workers,” said Sandra Mullen, NSGEU 1st Vice President.
Living wage, secure housing best for health and wellness
Furthermore, if government’s desire is to “address the factors affecting health and wellbeing,” the clearest, most direct approach to supporting and empowering people is to ensure all Nova Scotians have access to a living wage and secure housing.
“When people don’t know where they are going to sleep at night and kids are going to bed hungry, it isn’t reasonable to expect people to be proactive about their own health,” said Mullen.
NS government focuses on private health care, rather than improving public health care
Finally, we are concerned by government’s refusal to commit to the public delivery of health care services, instead only stating to labour leaders that services will be publicly funded. Government must commit to improving capacity within the public system, rather than relying on private, for-profit companies to alleviate strain on an overwhelmed system.
“It is imperative that, coming out of this pandemic, our focus is on strengthening and improving the capacity of our public system, not further eroding it by contracting out the delivery of our health services,” said Mullen.