YELLOWKNIFE (July 24, 2025) - In early July, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) implemented a temporary shift bidding system to support summer staffing of physicians at the Stanton Territorial Hospital (STH) Emergency Department (ED).

This initiative was implemented quickly as a contingency measure to ensure safe and optimal physician staffing in the ED, while also reflecting our commitment to listen to staff and stakeholders and turn their ideas into action to better meet our collective needs. The NTHSSA is pleased to share that through the first round of bidding, which offered locum physicians across Canada the opportunity to bid on critical shifts in July, the NTHSSA successfully staffed all required shifts, avoiding the need to implement more extreme contingency measures for ED coverage.

Additionally, the second round of bidding for August shifts has already allowed the NTHSSA to fill all but a small handful of the available shifts and has provided additional options to cover the remaining ones, helping us avoid the most extreme measures outlined in our contingency plan. Overall, this approach has proved successful and the NTHSSA thanks staff and stakeholders for their feedback, that emphasised the need to enhance incentives to locums, particularly during the summer months.

The bidding approach is one of several contingency measures the NTHSSA has considered to prevent less favourable options, such as overburdening staff with long hours or excessive back-to-back shifts. Though this initiative is not expected to be used on an ongoing basis, the NTHSSA will use the knowledge gained through this to prepare for future needs.

“Physicians are essential members of high-functioning healthcare teams, as front-line workers, as leaders in making the best possible contingency plans, and as advocates for patients and the system. This experience has been valuable, offering a fresh opportunity to connect with both new and familiar locums in meaningful ways. It sparked insightful questions and inspired some innovative ideas within the team. We’re hopeful that the connections we’ve made, and the lessons we’ve learned from this experience will help us refine and enhance our approach to future engagement and staffing.”

– Dr. Claudia Kraft, Territorial Medical Director, NTHSSA

The NTHSSA will incorporate lessons learned from the bidding process, along with other feedback received, to strengthen its ongoing contingency planning efforts. Given the persistent national challenges related to health human resources, the NTHSSA has a responsibility not only to proactively mitigate potential future shortages but also to ensure robust contingency plans are in place should they be required.

The Northwest Territories Medical Association (NWTMA), a key stakeholder for the NTHSSA, offered their support and appreciation for this initiative. Dr. Courtney Howard, President of the NWTMA shared the following: “It is a tremendous relief to look at the ED schedule and see that most of the shifts are filled and know that we will be able to provide care in safe and healthy way. We thank NTHSSA for the shift-bidding initiative which has led to this reassuring result. We understand that moving forward the thought is to develop a mechanism whereby similar initiatives can be used during other anticipated high-needs times. We strongly support this as a proactive approach to prevent the stress involved in last-minute staffing crises. Wear your sunscreen, lifejackets, and helmets, NWT Friends - we hope you don’t have reason to come to the ED this summer, but we are here if you need us!”

For media request, please contact:

NTHSSA Communications
nthssacomms@gov.nt.ca