LETTER: Drastic steps needed to mend eroding health-care system
‘Doctors and nurses are burnt out, and, like our system more generally, stretched to their limit,’ says letter writer
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Re: ‘We will not be ignored’: Nurses rally for better patient-to-staff ratios, Jan. 29, 2025.
Over the last 50 years, Ontario’s population has been growing, while Ontario has been decommissioning hospital facilities without adequate replacements.
Since the year 2000, Ontario has lost 1/3 of its hospital beds. Our hospital capacity is the lowest in Canada, and Canada ranks as one of the lowest in the OECD.
The nursing workforce has only grown by 12 per cent in the last five years, after nearly a decade of stagnation.
Despite thousands of new nurses trained since the pandemic, for every two that are hired, one is retiring.
The government’s promise of 3,000 new beds by 2032, and 50,000 new nurses by 2028 won’t even begin to address the problem, even if it was on track, which, due to a lack of development infrastructure, it isn’t.
Not only would we need five times that amount just to meet the OECD average, but the current plan doesn’t even match expected population growth over that same timeframe.
The fact that Ontarians still have regular access to health care is a testament to the hard work performed by Ontario’s health professionals.
The Ontario Hospital Association is proud of the efficiency that the Ontario health-care system has achieved, but the brunt of that burden is being borne by our health-care workers.
Nurses and physicians are under constant pressure to get patients out the door sooner, handle larger case loads, and still maintain the increasing standards of health care expected in a wealthy nation.
This “efficiency” is destroying the health-care profession. Doctors and nurses are burnt out, and, like our system more generally, stretched to their limit by a status quo that cares more about metrics on efficiency and patient satisfaction, than it does about ensuring our system is robust enough to handle crisis, or able to provide the best services.
We need to take a serious look at our long-term goals for universal health care. The staffing ratio that these nurses are asking for is only a relief measure for one specific problem.
To really improve things will take a lot more than that. We need a long-term plan to increase our capacity. One that includes a roadmap for creating the infrastructure necessary to build that capacity.
Our health-care workers have the knowledge and skills to do so much more for the people of our province, but they are forced by circumstance to do only what they can for the few who desperately need it.
Doctors and nurses want to take time with patients, help them take charge of their health, and set them up for years of success, but they can’t do that in the five minutes they have between filling out forms and doing rounds.
We need to consider whether we want a system that patches us up and sends us on our way, or helps us live the healthiest and happiest lives possible.
Personally, I’m worried things have been so bad, for so long, that we have collectively forgotten such a thing is even a realistic possibility.
If something drastic isn’t done soon, I guarantee we will watch our public health-care system erode to nothing or see mass walkoffs that grind the whole system to a halt.
Sarah Morton
Renfrew (formerly of Aurora)
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