Strong support for improved health workforce planning in Canada

Toronto, ON, October 25, 2023 – An Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association shows there is strong support for improved health workforce planning, with 87% of Canadians agreeing that a long-term plan for the health workforce should be put in place in Canada that ensures the right number, type and location of health care providers to meet patients’ current and future health care needs. Only 19% agree that Canada has the right number of health workers across all regions, including urban, rural and remote areas and Indigenous communities; three-quarters (76%) of Canadians disagree with this statement.

More long-term planning for the health workforce is seen as providing a number of important benefits. Six-in-ten (60%) Canadians say it would improve quality of care and a similar proportion (60%) say it would improve access to care, such as shorter wait times. Another 59% believe it would make it easier for patients to access health care.

While Canadians support improved health workforce planning, they recognize this is not an easy task, identifying a number of significant barriers to developing and implementing a long-term plan. The two greatest barriers are believed to be a lack of cooperation and coordination between different levels of government (federal, provincial and territorial governments) (83% significant) and a lack of clear accountability and engagement among many different leaders responsible for health care (government, regulators, health services providers, educational institutions, etc.) (83% significant).

The poll also finds that Canadians want to be consulted on health workforce planning. Overall, 82% agree that the public should have a voice in health workforce planning. Only 10% disagree and 8% say don’t know.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between September 15 and 19, 2023, on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association. For this survey, a sample of 3,152 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 2.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Catherine Knaus
Director, Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 778-373-5131
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

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