Ontario

'The province is sleepwalking on this issue.' - Patty Rout

Toronto (18 March 2008) - Medical diagnostic errors could rise if Ontario fails to address a growing shortage of laboratory professionals, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).

“The province is sleepwalking on this issue,” says Patty Rout, the union's first vice-president. “Between mergers, privatization and funding shortages, Ontario could soon be in a similar situation to Newfoundland.”

A public inquiry is set to begin next week to determine how a Newfoundland lab incorrectly diagnosed more than 300 breast cancer patients. The inquiry is expected to hear of high staff turnover and strained resources that put patient’s lives at jeopardy.

The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science estimates that 43.7% of general medical laboratory technologists in Ontario will be eligible to retire by 2015 – a rate than cannot be replaced through existing educational programs.

Ontario has complicated the situation by contracting most of its community lab work to private facilities, which are now competing for a declining pool of technologists.

The threat of constant mergers has also discouraged new graduates in a profession where job security remains elusive despite the staff shortages. The Eastern Ontario Regional Lab Association – a project to amalgamate 16 hospital labs into a single entity – recently released a plan which calls for reductions in its workforce.

“Its time the province realized the health system is more than just doctors and nurses,” says Rout, a licensed laboratory technologist.

“Laboratory professionals are the third largest medical occupation in Canada. While the government has correctly set a target of 70% full-time employment for nurses, it has set no such targets for laboratory technologists, despite the fact that about half still face casual and part-time employment.”

OPSEU is urging the government to introduce a plan before more laboratory technologists leave both the public system and Ontario. NUPGE