11/28/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2025
𝗔𝗔𝗛𝗣 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀
𝗦𝘁. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻’𝘀, 𝗡𝗟 - The Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP) is calling on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to expand its newly announced “core staffing review” to include the province’s many allied health professionals—critical frontline workers whose expertise is essential to safe, efficient, and high-quality patient care.
The AAHP welcomes any initiative aimed at strengthening the health-care workforce. However, the union is very concerned that significant gaps will be overlooked unless the review includes all health professionals who play a vital role across the broader health-care teams. Without a full interdisciplinary staffing assessment, AAHP warns the province risks implementing solutions that fail to address the root causes of patient delays, service disruptions, and system-wide strain.
“Allied health professionals are not optional add-ons to the system— they are essential to diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, mental health, and safe discharge,” said Gord Piercey, President of AAHP. “A staffing review that excludes allied health leaves out a massive part of what patients rely on every day.”
Allied health professionals include respiratory therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, speech-language pathologists, and dozens of other highly specialized clinicians. These professions provide the diagnostics, therapies, and critical supports that make timely care—and effective nursing and physician work—possible.
Yet many allied health services across the province face:
• chronic staffing shortages
• unsustainable workloads
• recruitment and retention challenges
• burnout and high vacancy rates
• service delays and temporary shutdowns
“If the goal is to improve patient care, create safer workplaces, and stabilize the system, then the staffing review must be expanded,” said Piercey. “You cannot build a sustainable health-care workforce by examining one profession in isolation.”
AAHP is urging the province to:
1. Expand the core staffing review to include all allied health occupations.
2. Establish profession-specific staffing benchmarks, like those being considered for nursing.
3. Consult directly with AAHP during workforce planning, ensuring accurate data and real frontline insight.
4. Develop targeted recruitment and retention strategies for allied-health professions experiencing the most severe shortages.
“We are here for our members, and we are here for the health-care system,” said Piercey. “A stronger, safer, more sustainable system depends on the full team— not just one part of it.”
AAHP looks forward to working collaboratively with government to ensure all allied health professionals are included in the province’s long-term staffing and workforce strategy.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗔𝗛𝗣
The Association of Allied Health Professionals represents more than 900 highly trained allied health clinicians working in Newfoundland and Labrador’s public health-care system. AAHP advocates for safe working conditions, fair compensation, professional recognition, and strong public services that support patients across every region of the province.
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𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁:
𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻
Communications, AAHP
709-325-7193
[email protected]
