A new report on the difficult working conditions facing health workers is the latest call for urgent action to address the dire lack of nurses and other health professionals plaguing Canada’s health care system. This new Parliamentary report from the House Standing Committee on Health was tabled in the House of Commons last month.
“We are gratified the Committee heard the voices of frontline nurses and acknowledged the challenging working conditions and extreme staffing shortages facing us,” said Linda Silas, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU). “But acknowledging this crisis is only the first step. Parliament must follow up with swift action to provide relief to the thousands of nurses just hanging by a thread across the country.”
Silas said that nurses are looking for politicians to turn their positive words into concrete measures to retain nurses, who have faced such difficult conditions for so long, return nurses who have left the system, and recruit the next generation of nurses.
“When I appeared before the committee last February, I shared solutions from nurses aimed at better protecting patient care by better supporting the hard-working health professionals who deliver this care,” continued Silas. “But in the last year, we have seen far too little progress. Patient safety, quality of care and the sustainability of our entire health care system are at risk as long as nurses face dire staffing shortages and such difficult working conditions.”
To read the full report, please visit this link.