SUSAN LEBLANC: My question is for the Minister of Health and Wellness. I want to bring the House’s attention to a growing crisis among our province’s paramedics. Numbers from the Department of Health and Wellness show that 133 paramedics left the profession in 2022 for reasons other than retirement. I can table that. This is more than double the number from just a few years earlier. Paramedics have attributed most of these numbers to chronic undercompensation in the profession. Wages in other provinces are substantially higher than in Nova Scotia. Paramedics save lives every day and are as integral to the health system as nurses and doctors. My question is: When will this government support paramedics in the ways that they need?
HON. MICHELLE THOMPSON: I, too, am very concerned about our paramedics. I have worked with paramedics for 31 years, and I greatly appreciate the way in which they have supported patients throughout Nova Scotia. We have done a number of things. We have invested $3.5 million in equipment to support them because they are off, and we know that injuries have been an issue. Recently, we covered a short-term illness benefit for them in December and put more money in their pockets. We have offered a $5,000 bonus to them. We continue to look at their scope of practice. We have a variety of different practice settings for paramedics. We have introduced an $11,500 tuition rebate for paramedics to incentivize people. (Interruption) We’re very focused on the paramedic workforce, and we will continue to work with them to find the practice setting that they want.
SUSAN LEBLANC: Mr. Speaker, in spite of all that, in spite of all of those things, the growing number of paramedic vacancies is a cause for concern. We hear that every paramedic in this province, at this point, has an exit strategy. The 2022 total of 255 vacancies is significantly higher than previous years and the impact of this is becoming clear, and I can table that. We’re seeing more than four times the number of late responses to emergency calls than just two years ago, and I can table that. Nova Scotians need to know that there will be emergency care available when they need it, and paramedics need to be supported to stay in the province and in their profession. Retention and compensation is a clear issue among our province’s paramedics, and this government’s failure to meaningfully address this has put Nova Scotians’ health and safety at risk. Will the minister commit to raising paramedic wages to be competitive with the rest of the country?
MICHELLE THOMPSON: Certainly, there are a number of things that we are working with. We do have a committee that has been struck with the Department of Health and Wellness, Nova Scotia Health, EMCI, the paramedics union, and the college to support their practice environment and make sure they have adequate work-life balance. In fact, we have signalled to the paramedics union that we would like to get back to the table to address their compensation as well as work-life balance concerns because their contract is up at the end of October.