The Ontario Nurses’ Association had a face-to-face meeting with Premier Doug Ford Thursday to discuss the nursing shortage, and the government bill they say is making the situation worse by limiting annual salary increases for registered nurses.
“Unfortunately there was no concrete commitment from him to repeal Bill 124,” said Cathryn Hoy, ONA president.
“Disappointing would be mild to say for us, because that is something that we’re looking forward to. But, he did actually commit to another meeting next week where we are going to sit down and work on the actual retaining of nurses, and that’s our priority right now” Hoy said.
Hospitals across the province are dealing with staff shortages, including Kingston Health Sciences Centre.
“When we talk to our colleagues we do hear that we’re doing well compared to them, but it’s still tough for our staff,” said Dr. Renate Ilse, chief operating officer at KHSC.
“We’re not able to just find enough people to hire and give people the ratios that they would be used to pre-pandemic levels,” she explained.
The Nurses Association says its members are leaving the industry due to burnout, inadequate pay, dangerous conditions and more.
The union says those who do stay are left in a tough situation.
“We are constantly working short, we constantly feel an incredible sense of moral injury and moral distress,” said registered nurse Deb Lefebvre.
“As a registered nurse, the common question today is, ‘do we have enough staff?'” she added.
Doris Grinspun, chief executive officer with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, says nurses are working 14-, 16-, sometimes 18-hour days.
“They leave work and as soon as they leave, their phone is ringing again for them to come back,” she said.
The Nurses’ Association says it won’t have patience for meetings with the premier that go nowhere.
“I’ll be very clear, we will not accept strung-on meetings like ‘let’s meet next week,'” said Hoy.
“We are hoping that (Doug Ford) will honour his commitment today and actually talk to us and come up with a plan to retain nurses” she added.
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