Promise History
2.12.13 - “We […] will hire more […] nurses”
27-Oct-2022
In October 2022, the Ford government announced a series of steps to expand the health workforce and to expedite the registration of international nurses, and doctors from other provinces and territories. Although this addresses the backlog of international applicants seeking to start work, critics say that this does not address the underlying issue of working conditions that is driving a lot of nurses from the practice (see the prior status update). However, this promise is in progress as it is contingent on the number of nurses at the end of the government’s second term being net positive compraed to the start of the term.
“[C]hanges proposed by the Ontario Ministry of Health, the College of Nurses of Ontario and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, will support recruitment efforts and make it faster and easier for health care professionals trained in Ontario, other provinces and internationally to register and practice in Ontario. Changes that will come into effect immediately, include: Allowing internationally educated nurses to register in a temporary class and begin working sooner while they work towards full registration; Making it easier for non-practicing or retired nurses to return to the field by introducing flexibility to the requirement that they need to have practiced nursing within a certain period of time before applying for reinstatement; and Creating a new temporary independent practice registration class for physicians from other provinces and territories, making it easier for them to work for up to 90 days in Ontario.”
Ontario Doing More to Further Expand Health Workforce
05-Oct-2022
“The announcement made this morning by the Ontario government reiterating a commitment made a year ago to fund up to 225 additional Nurse Practitioners to work in provincial long-term care homes – while a start – will take three years to implement and is far too few to meet the needs of Ontario’s 627 long-term care homes, says Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) President Cathryn Hoy, RN.”
05-Aug-2022
Workers’ unions have expressed concerns about the number of people leaving the health care field, particularly in light of Bill 124 which caps public sector pay increases (including nursing) to 1%. However, for this promise to be considered broken, there would need to be data indicating that there are fewer nurses in the profession now than there were during Ford’s first term. This promise is considered not yet rated.
“The association was one of three health care unions — the ONA, CUPE and the Service Employees International Union, which together represent some 120,000 health care workers across the province — sounding the alarm over staffing shortages in Ontario’s hospitals. Their call comes as health care staff are said to be leaving the field in droves, leaving some hospitals unable to properly staff their emergency departments.”
Ontario PCs Release Pledge to Get it Done
Reference Documents
[Ed. Note: See Employed in Nursing in Ontario. As of February 2022, there were 155,604 nurses working in Ontario.]
Registration Statistics Report 2022
“The Act establishes different three-year moderation periods for represented and non-represented employees. During the applicable moderation period, salary increases are limited to one per cent for each 12-month period of the moderation period.”
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