Hospital pharmacists say staff shortages are worsening their situation and affecting patient care
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Pharmacists who work in Newfoundland and Labrador hospitals say staffing shortages are pushing them toward bankruptcy and the provincial government needs to take it seriously.
“We are extremely understaffed and understaffed. And this has been going on for a very long time, and it’s very unsustainable,” Megan Munden, a pharmacist at St. John’s Health Sciences Center since 2016, told reporters Wednesday. “I think burnout is probably happening every day.”
About 80 people participated in a rally outside the Health Sciences Center on Wednesday.
Hospital pharmacies differ from community pharmacies in that they focus on specialized and collaborative care as part of patient and family care teams in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as helping to create patient plans across a variety of care aspects within the hospital.
Lori Carter, who has worked with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services since 2012, said that while pharmacists play a vital role in care, staffing shortages are taking them away from that work — which can ultimately impact patient care.
“If we’re not at the level where the patients are, and where we provide the benefit, then when we move away from that, that benefit is not happening,” he said.
The head of the union representing pharmacists said staffing could not be continued at the current level. Gordon Piercey, president of the Alliance of Allied Health Professionals, told reporters that hospital pharmacist vacancies have exceeded 20 percent systemwide, and Clarenville’s hospital pharmacy is only 25 percent staffed.
Although he says Premier Tony Wakeham and the provincial government have heard his concerns, the pay increase may not come soon enough to reflect the challenges around recruitment and retention.
“This can’t wait for weeks (and) months,” Piercey said. “We need to retain all the pharmacists who are still here and working today, and we can’t lose any more. And if anything, we need new talent to come on board, especially in some of those rural hospitals.”
CBC News has contacted NL Health Services for comment, but has not yet received a response.
Piercey said pay is a significant factor that drives pharmacists away from working in hospitals, with hospital pharmacists in Newfoundland and Labrador facing the lowest wages in Atlantic Canada.
Carter has seen that impact firsthand, and has questioned how the province can attract new pharmacists with such low wages.
“They can walk across the street and make $20 more an hour,” Carter said, referring to work in corporate community pharmacies. “People know our salaries are not what they should be.”
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