1 day Ago By CBC
Dexter Mercer thought becoming a medical radiation technologist would set him onto a path for success. Instead, his job at Battlefords Union Hospital has become a nightmare. "I've personally experienced working over 50 hours straight with no longer than 45 minutes between callbacks, leaving little to no room for rest," Mercer said, recounting an incident from a few years ago.
Exhaustion and lack of sleep eventually took its toll and as Mercer pulled into the hospital parking lot he lost consciousness. The vehicle slammed into a lamppost, causing thousands of dollars of damage to the vehicle. While the incident is horrifying, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 5430, the union representing medical technologists and technicians in Saskatchewan, says it is becoming more and more normal as positions go unfilled.
Technologists are a key part of the province's health service. They perform tests and analyze results that are necessary for doctors to make a diagnosis or to declare a patient well to go home. "If there's no technologists, there's no one there.
The ER closes," said Sharlise Tubman, a medical technologist that works in Lumsden. That's why the union brought 15 of its members to the provincial legislature on Monday, calling on the provincial government to provide more health-care funding after its members raised concerns of under-staffing and increased workload. CUPE 5430 represents 906 medical technologists and technicians in the province.
Bashir Jalloh, President of CUPE 5430, said the province needs to take action and treat medical technologists properly. (Alexander Quon/CBC News) Union president Bashir Jalloh described technologists as the key pieces of the medical system that no one ever gets to see. Despite the key role technologists play in the province's health-care system, they are treated terribly, according to Jalloh.
"Health-care workers, in our province, including technologists, are underpaid and undervalued and this is not something that we can continue," said Jalloh. Survey shows declining state of care CUPE released a report titled Still Waiting on Monday to highlight the lack of support. That report highlights that of the 156 members that responded to a union survey, 87.
8 per cent of them said their workload had increased in the past five years. According to CUPE that is an increase from 81.7 per cent that said their workload had increased when they were asking in a similar survey conducted in 2017.
That increased workload has affected the quality of services provided to patients, according to 89.7 per cent of the survey respondents, while 91 per cent say it had an impact on the health and safety of patients and residents. It has also affected the morale of staff negatively, according to 91 per cent of the survey's respondents.
That's a significant jump from the 79.5 per cent of respondents that provided the same response in 2017. The survey was conducted in July 2024.
It had a response rate of 17.2 per cent, while CUPE says its 2017 survey had a 22.4 per cent response rate.
In the latest survey, 79.5 per cent identified "working short" as the factor most identified as contributing to workload issues; 74.4 per cent of respondents also identified "vacant positions not being filled.
" CUPE says about half of the survey respondents say health-care facility closures and service disruptions are the result of understanding. Union calls for more funding The union is calling on the province to increase baseline funding for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, dedicated to hiring additional medical technologists and technicians in order to address workload issues and increase patient safety. It also wants the province to revise its Health Human Resources Action Plan, a key part of Saskatchewan's plan to hire and train more health-care workers.
The revisions would expand recruitment incentives for new medical technologist and technician graduates while introducing new retention incentives for those currently employed by the SHA. Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill did not sound open to those proposed changes when asked after question period on Monday. "This is exactly what we're focused on.
Again, taking the vacancies because as I said, the vacancies, that's what kind of starts all these issues happening, and filling those vacancies and then getting the departments to a more stable position," Cockrill said. Finally, CUPE is calling for the Ministry of Health to allow the a new deal to be struck between the province's bargaining committee and the union that would address wage increases which keep pace with inflation and the issues of call-back hours, scheduled standby and vacation leave. CUPE 5430 workers have been without a contract since April 2023.
Jalloh says contract discussions have been difficult as he says the province's negotiating team is failing to take their demands seriously. Cockrill declined to address ongoing bargaining. If and when a new contract is signed between the province and CUPE 5430, Mercer may not be around to see it.
"We have twins on the way and I just, I need to be able to be at home sometimes," he told media. Mercer plans to leave his full-time job in April. His position is set to be filled — at least temporarily — by a contract technologist, Cockrill confirmed.
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