Cancer care in Nova Scotia will suffer because of staffing shortages after the province turned down a plan to train radiation therapists at Dalhousie University, says the association that represents the health-care providers.

Jennifer Carey, the Atlantic manager of the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists, says with a number of retirements looming, the lack of succession planning won’t just hurt patients, but the province’s bottom line, too.

“This will detrimentally affect access to cancer care in Nova Scotia and in Atlantic Canada. Is the current government OK with that?” Carey said.

Radiation therapists operate the equipment when cancer patients receive radiation, often seeing the patients daily during their treatment. They also provide guidance on side-effects and give emotional support.

“Cancer patients see radiation therapists more often than they see their own physicians and oncologists,” said Carey.

There are no training programs on the East Coast. Instead, people have to attend university in Ontario or further west in order to pursue the career.

10-seat program pitched for Dal

Carey said three years ago, the association started advocating for the creation of a local program to help fill gaps in Atlantic Canada.

She said Dalhousie University and the provincial departments of health and advanced education created a proposal to start a 10-seat program in 2027, but the plan was rejected by the treasury board.

The Department of Advanced Education declined an interview, but said in a statement it has to weigh competing priorities.

“We remain focused on addressing workforce gaps. Options to strengthen training capacity, such as in radiation therapy, are never off the table,” the statement said.

The treasury board said all deliberations are confidential.

Dalhousie University also sent a statement, saying work will continue between the school and the province to help create training capacity to fill gaps in the workforce.

None of them addressed the question of how much the new program would cost.

While the program is still possible in the future, Carey is calling for urgency.

“It just seemed to me that we had all of the dots in a row,” she said. “It’s such a missed opportunity … I was extremely disheartened.”

According to the association, there are six permanent vacancies in Nova Scotia, with some short-term vacancies as well.

It says about 27 per cent of the workforce in Atlantic Canada will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years.

Carey said she’s aware of the financial pressures facing Nova Scotia, but points out that the long-term costs could be significantly worse if the province can’t find more staff.

N.L. cancer patients sent to Ontario

She used the example of Newfoundland and Labrador. Three years ago, nearly 200 cancer patients had to be sent to Ontario because of a shortage of radiation therapists.

Carey also pointed out early intervention in cancer care is cheaper, and longer wait times will cost more to treat.

“It shows the short sightedness of what a budget looks like on paper not translating it to what the long-term effects of this are going to be and not wanting to take leadership in that way,” she said.

“There are very few problems in health care that can be fixed by throwing money at it…. this is one of them.”

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