Ontario adding 2,000 nurses to the health care system

VANESSA De MATTEIS, Office of the Minister of Long-Term Care

The Ontario government is investing $35 million to increase enrolment in nursing education programs in publicly assisted colleges and universities across the province. The new spaces will be available for Autumn 2021 and Winter 2022 cohorts. They will introduce approximately 1,130 new practical nurses and 870 registered nurses into the health care system.

COVID-19 has exacerbated the gap between the current supply of nurses compared to Ontario’s current and future needs across the health care system. Today’s announcement is a significant step towards keeping pace with the rising demand for frontline health care workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This is especially in sectors where health care workers care for Ontario’s most vulnerable patients, long-term care, home and community care and acute care.

“Our Government committed to ensuring residents in long-term care receive, on average, four hours of direct care per day. To make this a reality, tens of thousands of new staff need to be hired to provide this care, including registered nurses and practical nurses,” said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Today’s investment supports our plan to shore up staffing in long-term care and address the need for nurses across the health care system.”

In addition to expanding enrolment to support the increase in nursing supply for all sectors of our health system, including home and community care and acute care, this investment will also support the expansion of clinical education placements for nursing students and personal support worker students in the long-term care sector.

Clinical education placements will be supported by: increasing training for clinical experts who oversee students in long-term care placements; and Providing additional funding to ensure dedicated supervision time from clinical experts, to support student learning in long-term care.

“Ontarians rely on the exceptional quality of care health care professionals provide in hospitals and long-term care homes,” said Ross Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities. “Colleges and universities are crucial partners in our goal to provide high-quality care for long-term care residents and all Ontarians. Today’s announcement is progress, to ensuring Ontario’s healthcare system has the highly-qualified staff needed to provide world-class care for Ontarians and our loved ones.”

This investment will help long-term care homes ensure quality clinical placements in long-term care, at a time when homes are facing severe staffing challenges. It will also provide registered nurses, already in the long-term-care sector, an opportunity to grow their careers by working as clinical experts and supervising new students.

“Nurses are a cornerstone of our health care system and are integral to Ontario’s fight against COVID-19,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This investment will support and strengthen our nursing workforce and ensure patients can continue to receive high-quality care across our health system, including long-term care, home and community care and acute care.”

This investment also supports the government’s Long-Term Care Staffing Plan, which was launched last year and sets out actions which will educate, train and help recruit tens of thousands of new health care staff through partnerships with labour partners, long-term care homes, and education and training providers, so homes can provide an average of four hours of direct care per day to residents.