Amid a province-wide nursing shortage, the Ontario government is investing millions of dollars to make it easier for nurses to further their education to work in critical care areas of hospitals.
The province said it will be providing $9.4 million to support accelerated critical care education for nurses at Centennial College, Conestoga College, George Brown College, Laurentian University, Mohawk College and St. Lawrence College. An additional $4.6 million will also be given to the Michener Institute in Toronto to provide free tuition for students and covers all hospital costs to allow nurses to train in critical care areas.
By removing financial barriers, the province said it expects to see close to 600 nurses complete an upskilling of their education by the spring of 2023.
“We will continue to invest in programs to recruit, retain, and train more nurses as we build a stronger, [a] more resilient health care system for generations to come,” said Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones in a news release.
The announcement comes not long after a Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report was released, showing that Ontario has fallen further behind the national average for the supply of registered nurses (RN).
According to the report, Canada has an average of 830.5 RNs per 100,000 citizens. In Ontario, the average number of RNs per 100,000 people is 668.
So far this year, the Ford government said nearly 14,000 new nurses have registered in the province. However, the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) said the province would need to hire close to 25,000 additional RNs immediately to meet the national average.
“The nursing shortage in Ontario is at a crisis level for front line health-care workers, and for every Ontarian needing care,” said ONA First Vice-President Angela Preocanin. “This new data confirms that Ontario’s nursing shortage is more serious than in the rest of Canada than ever before, and things are only getting worse.”
The ONA added that nurse retention remains a major concern with turnover and vacancy rates rising amidst burnout and crushing workloads. The nursing union also pointed to the province’s wage-suppressing legislation, Bill 124, as a barrier to nurse retention. The legislation was struck down this week by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
