Local nurses say province spinning its tires on staffing crisis

A group representing local nurses says the province could and should be doing more to shore-up an Ontario healthcare system still in crisis.

The message comes as part of a 'Fall Tour' in which the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario is holding regional meetings as it continues to call on the provincial government to do more to end an ongoing nursing crisis.

“The main theme that came up is the impact this is having on nursing morale and how nurses aren't able to do the type of care they want to do, that they've been educated to do, and that they're very focused on tasks and survival right now,” said Kathy Moreland, a registered nurse and president of the RNAO's Waterloo Chapter.

Moreland said one of the key concerns is a seeming lack of effort to retain nurses currently on the job, adding the province should be putting more money into retaining senior staff on top of efforts to bring in more new staff by increasing spots in nursing programs and fast-tracking the accreditation for nurses trained abroad.

“Which is all good, but they're saying they'd like to see more efforts being put into retention of nurses who are currently there and that would be recognizing the efforts they're putting forth,” said Moreland.

She said a main issue also continues to be Bill 124 which caps wage increases for nurses to one per cent.”

“Hospitals cannot increase nurses salaries, they're held by that legislation, but they can pay agency nurses three times more per hour to replace staff,” Moreland said. “So not only are nurses dealing with not feeling appreciated in their environment, but also they've got nurses who left organizations now working for agencies coming and getting paid more than they are per hour and knowing that the public purse is now putting money into a private agency's pocket.”

Meantime, on top of the increased physical demands, the RNAO says the rising mental challenge continues to push more good nurses toward the door.

“Nurses hold the standards of care very highly and when you can't give the kind of care that you want to give because you're being pulled in too many directions, it just takes its toll and people decide they can't do that anymore,” Moreland said. “For their own physical and mental health they have to walk away.”

As for what the province could and should be doing to bolster supports, Moreland says every time the premier or the health minister are asked that question it becomes clear they're simply spinning their tires.

“There's a lot of talk about the money that's been invested in new beds, et cetera, but the problem is that beds don't take care of people,” she said, adding the province also can't simply replace senior nurses with novice ones fresh out of school with no experience and nobody left on staff to continue to learn from.