July 27th, 2021

Without investment in nursing recruitment and retention, Ford puts patient care at risk

QUEEN’S PARK — The NDP is calling for action and investment on nurse training, recruitment and retention as nurses in hospitals and other health care settings cope with spiralling burnout and understaffing.

While Ford avoids investing in nursing, Southlake Hospital in Newmarket is adopting so-called “team-based” nursing for its ICU — filling critical care nursing jobs with people not certified in critical care nursing, and asking qualified nurses to pair with them.

“When your loved one’s heart stops beating, or they stop breathing, you want a fully certified and fully staffed-up critical care squad rushing to their bedside,” said NDP Health critic France Gélinas.

“But we can’t be confident that’s happening now. Hospitals all over Ontario struggled with staffing shortages before the pandemic after years of cuts and funding freezes. As the pandemic wanes, burnout is causing nurses to leave for a less stressful environment, which leaves each shift understaffed, which causes more burnout, and more nurses leaving.

"The situation is already spiralling out of control because the Ford government does not have a recruitment, retention and specialty plan for nurses in Ontario. People deserve better — they deserve a plan that gets more nurses with the right qualifications providing care in every ward, on every shift."

The former Liberal government cut about 1,600 nurses during years of hospital budget freezes — positions Ford has not restored.