Investment in public health care is the only way to solve health care staffing crisis

QUEEN’S PARK – France Gélinas, NDP Health critic, issued the following statement in response to Ford’s attempt to attract more health care workers to Ontario:

“The Ontario NDP have been calling for the recognition of health care credentials across Canada for years. We need this.

But health care workers across Canada are well aware that Ontario has a health care staffing crisis. And they know Doug Ford’s Bill 124 is making things worse.

Who will come to work in Ontario knowing they will be overworked and underpaid? Who will want to work in our health care system when they know they will be working short staffed, not able to provide quality care, asked to put their license at risk, and be pressured to work overtime and double shifts? When new nurses come to Ontario, who will train them if senior staff have been pushed to the brink and are leaving the system? Ford’s announcement fails to address these questions.

To recruit and retain nurses in our health care system, we need serious investment in our public health care system. We need Doug Ford to drop his appeal of Bill 124.

Most importantly - nurses need reassurance that Ontario is a good place to come to work.”