Ontario adds thousands of new nursing places at colleges, universities

The Ford government has unveiled funding for an extra 2,200 nursing places at universities and colleges across Ontario as it attempts to boost the health-care workforce for hospitals and a growing number of long-term care homes.

On Wednesday, Ontario unveiled $56.8 million from its long-term care budget to expand the number of post-secondary places for nurse practitioners, registered nurses and registered practical nurses.

At the same time, the province is expanding flexible, online nurse training for personal support workers looking to add a practical nursing diploma from a college or practical nurses seeking a bachelor of science in nursing.

The move, Ontario’s long-term care minister told Global News, will expand staffing available to hospitals and boost the number of nurses available to work at newly opened long-term care homes.

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“We are building 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds, so of course we need incredible PSWs, nurses, nurse practitioners, registered practical nurses to staff at those homes once they are built,” Natalia Kusendova-Bashta said.

“Capital projects cannot exist without the training and education, that’s why these two pieces go so well hand-in-hand.”

The number of new places offered came from the struggling post-secondary education sector.

According to Kusendova-Bashta, the government asked how many new places could be supported by existing colleges and universities in Ontario.

“Today’s announcement of 2,200 spots is a direct response to our survey of the sector,” she said. “This is a step in the right direction, and we’ll certainly do an analysis in the coming years to see if we can expand more.”

Internal government projections, obtained last year by The Canadian Press, found Ontario will need 33,200 more nurses and 5o,853 more personal support workers by 2032.

Wednesday’s announcement also included a one-time payment of $7.5 million to universities and colleges to buy new nursing clinical supplies and equipment for laboratories.

“Our government continues to expand nursing enrollment in our colleges and universities to ensure we are building the health-care workforce we need to protect Ontario health care and ensure people can continue to access excellent care, close to home,” Nolan Quinn, colleges and universities minister, said in a statement.