Hospital staffing crisis reaching ‘breaking point’ in Ontario, union says | CBC News

A union representing Ontario hospital workers is calling for an injection of funding into the province’s health-care system to help curtail what it calls a worsening staffing crisis. 

CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions says its members — which include registered practical nurses, personal support workers and clerical staff — are experiencing crushing workloads in understaffed hospitals and the situation is taking a toll on their well-being. 

Secretary-treasurer Sharon Richer says a recent survey of more than 750 members indicates 26 per cent of respondents have considered leaving their jobs and 41 per cent dread going to work because of the heavy workload. The survey response rate was three per cent.

“The results of this survey are alarming and illustrate the gravity of staffing crises that have been years in the making, but which is now reaching a new breaking point,” Richer said at a press conference Wednesday.

“This survey confirms that workers are deeply unhappy about their working conditions with profound consequences on their mental health.” 

Health-care unions have long warned a retention and recruitment crisis exacerbated by the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic has put hospital workers under immense strain. Ontario saw several hospitals, especially in rural areas, temporarily shut emergency rooms or scale back service because they did not have enough staff to fill shifts. 

As the union bargains for a new contract, it’s calling on the government to increase full-time staff in hospitals and to follow British Columbia’s lead by bringing in mandated minimum staff-to-patient ratios.

The province’s nurses are among the highest paid nursing workforces in Canada, a  spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of health said in a statement to CBC Toronto.

The spokesperson also pointed to the addition of 15,000 nurses in 2023.

The union wants the province to invest $1.25 billion annually over the next four years on top of inflation. 

The province’s independent fiscal watchdog has said the government needs to add more than 86,000 nurses and personal support workers by 2028 to get back to pre-pandemic staff levels and meet commitments to expand hospitals, home care and long-term care. 

Stress impacting workers’ lives beyond work

Survey respondents reported multiple negative impacts on their mental health as a result of their jobs, with 62 per cent saying they experience exhaustion and high stress, while 44 per cent say they have trouble sleeping. 

Richer says for staff, these impacts often manifest in tears. 

“They cry before their shifts, they cry after their shifts, they cry during their lunch breaks. They even cry at home, as workplace stress bleeds into their lives,” she said.

Richer says 72 per cent of respondents don’t think the provincial government will improve the health-care system during the next year. 

During ongoing bargaining with the Ontario Hospital association, union vice-president David Verch says it has put forward the idea of introducing staff-to-patient ratios in all departments.

British Columbia announced in April that it would adopt nurse-to-patient ratios. At the time of that announcement, the province’s health minister called the ratios a leading international practice for retaining nurses and delivering quality care.

A spokesperson for B.C.’s nurses union told CBC Toronto work is still underway to implement the minimum ratios.

Speaking about the need for ratios in Ontario, Verch says the practice leads to improved quality of care, higher staff satisfaction levels and more manageable workloads.

The Ontario Hospital Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union’s survey.