Ford's healthcare plan: hire more nurses, pay them too little, burn them out

August 2, 2022

LANARK — FRONTENAC-KINGSTON - Ontario Greens Health Critic Marlene Spruyt issued the following statement in response to the Health Minister's comments on the crisis unfolding across the province's emergency rooms:“Hospitals across the province are continuing to close their emergency rooms because they don't have the staff to run them.

And today, the Ford government showed, yet again, that they do not fully understand the crisis at hand.

Hiring more nurses is only one piece of the puzzle. A plan that hires more nurses to not be paid enough and get burnt out will not solve the problem.

We need to address the underlying issues.

New hires need to be mentored by senior nurses so that they have the opportunity to learn.

Too many senior, experienced nurses have left because of being devalued, exhausted and burnt out. It is difficult to maintain the quality of our current system without their leadership and guidance.

And to make matters worse, this government froze their wages under Bill 124.

We need to retain the nurses that we have. And we need to reward nurses who worked so hard over the past years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ford must act urgently to significantly improve working conditions, fair bargaining, and better wages for healthcare workers.

And that means first and foremost repealing Bill 124.”

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