MEDIA RELEASE: IWK Life Flight Out of Service 50+ Hours

DARTMOUTH – Respiratory Therapy services at both the IWK and NSH are in crisis due to dire staffing shortages, jeopardizing patient care, as some emergency services have been grounded due to a lack of trained staff.

“Our members have been warning NSH and IWK for more than a year that the shortage of Respiratory Therapists is becoming so acute that lives will be put in jeopardy,” said NSGEU 1st Vice-President Hugh Gillis, “It is now a full-blown crisis that is directly impacting patient care.”

Recently, the Life Flight service for children at the IWK Health Centre has been out of service for at least 50 hours from January to March of this year, due in large part to staffing shortages of Registered Respiratory Therapists (RRTs).

Being unable to operate the Life Flight service at times is just one example of the impact of the critical shortage of respiratory therapists on health care. The staff who participate in the Life Flight service for the IWK require specialized pediatric and neonatal training. No one else in the Maritimes can transport a critically ill neonate to a higher level of care for treatment, surgery, and specialized services, and they are also responsible for high-risk obstetric transports.

NSGEU has worked with NSH and IWK in an attempt to help resolve these shortages, but the province has simply been unwilling to play a part. Gillis said the union has to speak out in the hopes public awareness would spur the province to finally act.

Working conditions are so bad at the Victoria General and Halifax Infirmary sites that not one of the eight graduates from the Dalhousie respiratory therapy program will take a permanent job there. The service should have 52 permanent FTE staff in the Central Zone: they will be down as low as 32 FTE by the fall.

“Senior Respiratory Therapists at NSH and IWK are going home at the end of their shift saying I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” Gillis said. “Morale is at an all-time low.”

Shortages are so bad in the NSH’s Central Zone that management has introduced new protocols limiting respiratory therapist services. Depending on staffing, this will require limiting services in less acute areas in order to cover the intensive care units and emergency room. For example, some services like staffing the endobronchial ultrasound suite or Pulmonary Function lab will be canceled or dramatically reduced, worsening delays in diagnosis and treatment of critical illnesses. Patients will have to wait longer for critical testing such as CT and MRI scans, as well as interfacility transports as discharges to and from intensive care are delayed due to the shortages of critical care respiratory therapists.

RRTs in Nova Scotia are currently among the lowest paid in the country. Their counterparts in PEI, for example, with 15 years’ experience working in acute care now earn $50.08 per hour. Here in Nova Scotia, RRTs’ with 15 years have their pay top-out at $40.65 per hour.

Compounding the problem is the fact that many RRTs are choosing to work as Anesthesia Assistants (AAs) for a much higher rate of pay. There are currently approximately 30 FTE RRT positions open across the province.

“Premier Houston has said that health care is his top priority, so it’s difficult to understand why his government refused to take action to address this full-blown crisis,” said Gillis, “RRTs are part of the critical care team for the Maritimes: emergency services are at risk.”

The NSGEU published a report on this matter in January 2023, outlining the serious workload and safety concerns being raised by the RRTs. While the employers acknowledge the problem, the province has failed to act. As a result, staffing shortages have worsened and will continue to do so.

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The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union represents nearly 37,000 workers who provide quality public services Nova Scotians count on every day.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with NSGEU 1st Vice-President Hugh Gillis, please contact:

Lucas Wide, NSGEU Communications Officer

902-483-0662 (cell)   

lwide@nsgeu.ca