Actions in Ontario in Defence of Public Health Care
Ottawa demonstration for public health care, January 19, 2023.
Health care workers in Ontario and their organizations have opened the new year by speaking out in defence of public health care, including the working conditions they require to provide the care their patients require.
In a joint media statement issued January 16, five unions representing nurses and other health care workers called on the Ford government not to move forward with its plan to divert money from public hospitals into private surgical clinics.
The unions -- the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE), Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), OPSEU/SEFPO, SEIU Healthcare and Unifor -- explained the plan, whose purported aim is to reduce wait times and backlogs for surgery and diagnostic procedures, will do the opposite because the changes will come at the expense of the existing public health care system.
The health care unions go on to explain that since coming to office, the Ford government's policies have exacerbated working conditions while lowering wages, leading to high rates of staff turnover, worsening the staffing shortage and burnout. In such a situation, funding private clinics will further damage the ability of Ontario's public hospitals to provide high-quality care and retain frontline staff.
Bernie Robinson, Interim President of the ONA, decried that the government "is creating a two-tier system where those who can pay out of pocket will jump the queue to receive their surgery and treatment first. Nurses and health care workers need more support and better funding in the public system, not a plan that will simply divert public dollars into the hands of private shareholders. Nurses call on Premier Ford to abandon this disastrous plan and invest in the public system to ensure access for all."
The nurses' professional associations, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) and the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN) similarly spoke out against the Ford government's plans.
Dr. Doris Grinspun, the CEO of the RNAO noted in the organization's January 16 press release, that besides the fact the not-for-profit health care costs less and delivers higher quality, "health care services delivered through for-profit facilities are first and foremost accountable to their investors, not to patients." Such arrangements that expand "the scope for investor-driven health care changes the political dynamics in our health care system. The forces lobbying for a U.S.-style, profit-driven system are strengthened [while] the public is left to fend for themselves in a deteriorated public system."
The RNAO emphasized that if the government's aim is to address backlogs and other problems, the RNAO and others have already proposed solutions. For example, more nurses can be hired and then operating rooms can be run around the clock. High volumes of standardized procedures (such as cataract surgeries) can be performed at specialized centres within hospitals or at other sites that already exist in the public health care system.
As concerns nurses' wages and working conditions, the RNAO explained, "The only way forward is to make sure nurses receive competitive compensation, including the repealing of Bill 124, so they can keep working in Ontario and build their careers. Nurses also deserve healthy work environments that have manageable workloads to deliver the best care possible to all Ontarians."
Dianne Martin, CEO of WeRPN, elaborated further on the issues facing nurses in the public sector: "In the face of our nursing shortage, Ontario has already become over-reliant on for-profit nursing agencies that provide nurses who are less familiar with the practice settings and patient populations at triple the cost to the taxpayer." WeRPN is calling on the government to make meaningful investments to strengthen Ontario's public health system to retain nurses presently in the system. For example, it proposes that nurse-to-patient ratios be implemented, that there be competitive and harmonized wages across all health sectors, and that access to specialized education to meet the needs of the health system be expanded.
(With files from RNAO, ONA, WeRPN.)
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 2 - February 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M530026.HTM
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