More nurses working in Ontario, but more also leaving, report shows | 24CA News
New figures present the variety of nurses energetic in Ontario is rising, however extra nurses are additionally leaving the province for work or taking leaves.
A report from the College of Nurses of Ontario stated that this yr greater than 178,000 nurses renewed their registration with the faculty, apart from these registered as non-practising, and about 158,000 of them are working as nurses in Ontario.
That’s up from about 140,000 working nurses in Ontario in 2016.
But the report stated the share of nurses working within the province has declined.
In 2016, 91.2 per cent of nurses had been working in Ontario within the occupation, however this yr that’s right down to 88.9 per cent, as rising numbers of nurses work in nursing exterior the province, or take a depart.
“While the total number of nurses renewing their registration and the total number reporting employment in nursing in Ontario have grown each year, modest shifts in registration and employment trends since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have tempered further gains to the workforce,” the faculty stated in its report.
The faculty stated greater than 9,800 nurses didn’t renew their registration this yr _ almost 1,000 greater than in 2022 _ although that was offset by about 15,100 beneficial properties, principally new nurses and plenty of of them internationally educated.
Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association, stated the federal government must focus extra on retaining nurses.
The authorities has listened to some RNAO recommendations to ease a scarcity of nurses, together with including nursing faculty capability and rushing up registrations for internationally educated nurses, Grinspun stated.
“What they have not done, and we have asked again and again and again, is to at the same time notice that at the same time as we bring more people, let’s make sure that we do interventions to retain them,” she stated.
“And on that we are not any better than before.”
Nurses want wholesome work environments, together with profession improvement, secure workloads and aggressive compensation, Grinspun stated.
Nurses and different public sector unions have argued in courtroom this week in favour of overturning Bill 124, which capped wage will increase for public sector employees to at least one per cent a yr for 3 years.
An arbitrator has awarded hospital nurses further pay for that interval and they’re awaiting one other arbitration resolution to settle their subsequent contract, freed from Bill 124 restrictions, however nurses have stated the legislation demoralized the professionals, significantly because it was in impact in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
