Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has implemented a hiring freeze in Alberta's healthcare sector. (Photo: Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Alberta announces healthcare hiring freeze, but will not impact clinical positions

Feb 22, 2024 | 2:34 PM

The healthcare sector in Alberta will be limited in terms of hiring over the near future.

The Ministry of Health has issued a letter to Alberta Health Services (AHS), Alberta Precision Labs, Carewest, and Capital Care, detailing new cost management strategies on hiring.

“As we continue to manage an operating deficit for the 2023/24 fiscal year, we are required to find additional cost savings. Our focus remains firmly on our patients, and ensuring they receive quality, responsive health care that they expect, and deserve,” reads a portion of the letter.

It states that “significant restrictions” on non-clinical hirings were put in place in January 2024 and have already made a financial impact.

“However, additional measures are required to aggressively address our current deficit position before the end of the 2023/24 fiscal year,” the letter said.

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Effective immediately until March 31, 2024, it is pausing nearly all recruitment efforts for management and non-clinical support positions, whether unionized or not.

There will be some exceptions, which will require the approval of the agency’s CEO:

• All senior leader, management positions.
• All non-union positions (clinical, clinical support or non-clinical).
• Unionized positions doing non-clinical support work, this includes work in non-clinical areas such as planning, privacy, risk management., quality, health professions, internal audit, communications, legal, finance, HR, WHS, IT, ethics, purchasing, education, research, etc.

Hiring directors have been told to cancel any postings and interviews for senior leader, management, and non-union positions (clinical, clinical support, and non-clinical).

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange issued a statement on her official social media accounts, saying the hiring freeze “has no impact on our frontline, clinical health care workers.”

She said AHS is not cancelling recruitment for frontline healthcare positions.

“As Minister of Health, I remain extremely thankful for the work of everyone in our health care system, especially on the front lines. I am committed to growing the workforce so Albertans get the best care possible when they need it most,” said LaGrange.

Alberta NDP Health Critic Luanne Metz said Premier Danielle Smith is continuing to put the healthcare sector in a position of crisis.

“What this means is Albertans won’t get the health care they need, agonizingly long wait times won’t come down, and patients will continue to sit in overcrowded emergency rooms,” said Metz.

She added, “I am very worried about the safety of patients who are already in hospital. What are hospitals going to do when they don’t have enough staff to take care of patients on already crowded wards?”

The UCP government is set to unveil the new provincial budget next week. Premier Danielle Smith said on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, said that lower resource revenues will require them to show more budget restrain than previously predicted.

READ MORE: Premier Danielle Smith says soft oil prices mean belt-tightening budget

READ MORE: Nurses rally for better pay, reclassification outside of Lethbridge City Hall

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