THE NURSES ARE COMING

TORONTO, ON, February 27, 2025 – The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) says the Ontario Hospital Association’s (OHA) assertions in a recent statement claiming “real-time” staffing by the province’s hospitals result in safe staffing levels is incorrect and misleading. Hospital CEOs and the OHA are harming patient care further by opposing the introduction of registered nurse (RN)-to-patient ratios.

ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN, says that the province’s hospital CEOs embraced a just-in-time staffing tool for scheduling nurses, based on a model used by a car manufacturer. Toyota used just-in-time ordering for car parts and when a major tsunami hit the country it was left unable to produce its products. Other car manufacturers who had a safe supply on hand were not hobbled by the tsunami.

“Now, a nursing shortage tsunami has hit,” says Ariss. “The impact of decisions made by government and the OHA over the past decade have left Ontario with a severe nursing shortage – the worst in Canada – and patients are being treated in understaffed, underfunded hospitals.”

Overwhelming research shows that minimum RN-to-patient staffing ratios result in safer patient care with fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, lower attrition rates and increase nurse retention rates. All of this saves the system much-needed dollars. This was detailed in a policy brief (https://ona.org/aiken-staffing-brief) on nursing ratios provided by ONA to the OHA during bargaining.

She adds that while ONA is very proud to have been the first nurses’ union to have a formal process to resolve workload issues, it is a time-consuming process that takes years and recommendations made by panels of independent nursing experts are not binding. Ariss says that it is telling that staffing issues have to reach a state so serious that a hearing becomes necessary.

Finally, Ariss says that the OHA’s assertion that it has hired 35,000 new health-care workers says nothing about the fact that the number of RNs per capita in this province continues to drop. Minimum RN-to-patient ratios have been hugely successful in numerous American states and in British Columbia.

ONA members were recently in bargaining with the OHA to negotiate a new collective agreement for about 60,000 hospital nurses. After bargaining failed, it will head to arbitration on April 2 and 3, 2025. ONA members have been organizing escalating actions to support nursing ratios.

“The OHA’s bold-faced attempt to discredit nursing ratios only shows they know they are losing the public debate on this critical issue,” says Ariss. “Far from being antiquated as they claim, nursing ratios are the way of the future. They are the answer to improved staffing, to addressing wait times and emergency closures, and ensuring the best care possible for Ontarians.”

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

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