Temporary emergency department closures and increased wait times are becoming more common in Ontario as the province’s health care system grapples with staffing shortages.
Prime Minister Doug Ford acknowledged that more could be done to ease pressure on the health system, but his throne speech this week failed to offer solutions to the problem.
Experts and advocates are making suggestions about what could help Ontario’s overburdened health care system.
These include repealing the law, known as House Bill 124, which capped wage increases for public sector contracts at one percent a year for three years, and training and registering more health workers.
They are also calling on the province to build publicly funded, stand-alone health centers that can perform less complex outpatient surgeries and procedures, improve working conditions for staff and implement a national system to track staffing levels across health institutions. to ensure that there is a balanced distribution of the workforce and prevent interruptions in service.
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario says mental health support, mentoring and good leadership coupled with adequate compensation will help with retention as nurses battle nearly three years of pandemic attrition combined with rising costs of living.
The Ontario Medical Association says 22 million patient services have been delayed over the course of the pandemic, 10 million of which were surgeries and cancer screening procedures.
It said the backlog was contributing to the strain felt in emergency departments, which could be alleviated by separate health centers performing the outpatient procedures.
(The Canadian Press)
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