New supports for allied health, clinical support workers will boost workforce
People accessing health care will benefit from a stronger workforce as the Province further invests in recruitment, retention and training initiatives for allied health and clinical support workers.
“Supporting the allied health-care workforce is critical to strengthening our public health-care system,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “By investing in recruitment and retention initiatives for allied health professionals and clinical support staff, we are ensuring that people have access to the vital health-care services this workforce delivers, no matter where they live in B.C.”
To support the implementation of B.C.’s Health Human Resources Strategy and the Allied Health Strategic Plan, the Province is investing up to $155.7 million in initiatives that will retain and recruit allied health and clinical support staff.
This includes up to $73.1 million for retention and recruitment incentives to expand the Provincial Rural Retention Incentive and provide signing bonuses for those who fill high-needs vacancies.
Effective April 1, 2024, the Provincial Rural Retention Incentive for health-care workers living and working in rural and remote communities was expanded. All occupations working in eligible communities, including those represented by the Health Sciences Professionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA/HSA), Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) and Community Bargaining Association (CBA) will receive the incentive, totalling up to $8,000 per year per person.
To support recruitment of allied health and clinical support workers, signing bonuses will be available for staff who fill high-needs vacancies in priority occupations in rural and remote areas, difficult-to-fill vacancies in urban and metro communities, and for medical lab technologists who join GoHealth BC, a travel health-care program that sends health-authority staff on short-term deployments to rural and remote communities.
These recruitment initiatives will support bringing in new allied health and clinical support health-care staff to fill vacancies, ensuring more people around B.C. can access the care they need.
To support retention and career development, the Province is providing up to $15 million over three years for allied health clinical mentorship, peer support and transition-to-practice support for allied health new entrants, including new graduates and internationally educated allied health professionals.
In addition, the Province is providing $20 million each to the HSPBA, CBA and FBA for a total investment of $60 million to deliver supports for professional development, mental health and wellness to their members.
Up to $7.6 million will be provided for training initiatives, including tuition credits, bursaries to offset licensing exam fees for new graduates and new employer-sponsored earn-and-learn opportunities.
This work is part of the Allied Health Strategic Plan, which highlights 42 actions from B.C.’s Health Human Resources (HHR) Strategy and introduces 15 new actions to advance retention, recruitment, training and innovation initiatives that directly benefit the allied health workforce in B.C.
The HHR Strategy advances 70 actions to retain, recruit and train health-care workers in B.C., while supporting innovative health-system redesign and optimization.
Learn More:
To learn more about how B.C.’s Health Human Resources Strategy is strengthening health care, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HLTH0150-001930
For more information about what the Province is doing to support allied health professionals, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HLTH0149-001926
Four backgrounders follow.