ABRAMS VILLAGE, PE - Premier Dennis King along with PC Candidate for District 24, Evangeline - Miscouche, Gilles Arsenault announced a plan to grow PEI’s front-line healthcare team.
Over the past four years, the PC government under the leadership of Dennis King has worked to support and grow the province’s front line health care team, including free tuition incentives for RCW students, increased recruitment and retention incentives, partnered with the Medical Society on doctor recruitment, increased supports for medical residencies, expanded scope of practice, partnered with UPEI and Memorial on a new School of Medicine, and moving to a more collaborative model of care that health professionals prefer to practice in.
A re-elected PC government will further support our Island front-line healthcare workers by:
- Providing free tuition for RCWs, LPNs, and Paramedics who train on Prince Edward Island in return for two years of service;
- Launching an Emergency Medicine Residency Program;
- Work with post-secondary institutions to launch an ‘Earn and Learn Program’ to upskill RCWs to LPNs, and LPNs to RNs without having to leave the workforce;
- Launch an Associate Physician license to allow foreign-trained physicians expedited licensing to practice to a defined scope under the supervision of other fully licensed physicians;
- Introduce legislation to have domestic and foreign recognition of credentials for RCWs, LPNs, and RNs recognized within set timeframes;
- Introduce a ‘Job Guarantee’ program for students studying in health care fields to guarantee them a full-time position the day after they graduate;
- Introduce a Health Bursary for students studying to become LPNs, RNs, and Paramedics that pursue studies off Island in exchange for a return in service to work on PEI; and
- Provide free licenses to healthcare professionals who have left the workforce to return to work on a casual or part-time basis.
“Our frontline health workers are what makes our healthcare system work. They’ve carried a heavy load for us these last few years and today’s announcements are some of the ways that we will work to better support and grow our frontline healthcare workforce,” says Premier Dennis King.