In jeopardy: A key program to keep nurses in Ontario

With roughly 10,000 unfilled RN positions in the province, the Nursing Graduate Guarantee has been put on hold without notice

A KEY PROGRAM to recruit and retain Ontario nurses is under review, raising fears it risks being cut just as the nursing workforce is experiencing its lowest growth in 10 years.

The Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) was suddenly put on hold without any notice or explanation, said Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

“This has not even been publicly stated,” she said.

“It’s utterly a disgrace ... It’s a toxic recipe for new grads to move to the U.S. and our patients get shortchanged.”

The program provides Ontario grads with temporary full-time employment to help transition them to permanent jobs so they don’t leave the province for other jurisdictions.

“This is at a time when in the U.S. they are eager to take our new grads,” Grinspun said.

“Here, we provide them with outstanding education and then they go to the U.S . ... They go and they don’t come back.”

The review also comes as the Canadian Institute for Health Information is raising red flags about Canada experiencing a mere 0.7 per cent growth in the reg-

“It’s a toxic recipe for new grads to move to the U.S. and our patients get shortchanged.” DORIS GRINSPUN CEO, RNAO

ulated nursing workforce in 2017.

“The nursing workforce is experiencing the slowest period of growth in a decade,” said Rahme Daoud, program lead of health workforce information at CIHI.

“I would say it’s surprising because we do know the Canadian population is aging so a slowdown in the growth could have an impact on this.”

In Hamilton, the number of registered nurses and nurse practitioners per 100,000 population has been falling for three years with 997 in 2017 compared to 1,018 in 2014.

The only growth locally has been registered practical nurses, who are up to 404 per 100,000 population in 2017 from 355 in 2014.

“We have been signalling this problem for a very long time,” said Vicki McKenna, president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association.

“We’ve been talking to officials at every table we can including government in regard to the fact there are declining numbers in Ontario at the same time the growing need is there.”

McKenna estimates 10 per cent of nursing jobs are vacant in Ontario with roughly 10,000 unfilled openings at Ontario hospitals alone. Not all of the openings are full-time permanent.

Hamilton Health Sciences currently has about 120 nursing vacancies and St. Joseph’s Healthcare has about 100 RN jobs open and 37 unfilled RPN positions.

ONA predicts the shortages will only get worse as the average age of nurses in Ontario is 49.

“The demographics in our workforce are very concerning,” McKenna said.

“We have lots of nurses working beyond age 55 and 65 but at the same time they are eligible to retire and many will.”

But CIHI warns that just over one-quarter of new nurses are getting full-time work and that number is shrinking.

Its report released in June found 72 per cent of Canadian nursing grads held part-time or casual jobs in 2017, which was an increase of 19 percentage points since 2008.

“What graduating nurses are telling me is they want full-time work,” McKenna said.

“They’re going to other jurisdictions to get it. Canadiantrained nurses, Ontario in particular, are highly sought after by other jurisdictions.”

The NGG program was created in 2007 to combat the drain of nurses to other provinces or countries.

The Ministry of Health provided 20 weeks of funding for each nurse in the program to create opportunities leading to permanent, full-time employment.

“It’s crucial,” Grinspun said about the program. “I hope this new government realizes that educating nurses here and letting them go to the U.S. because there are not enough job opportunities here is a poor investment.”

The ministry declined Thursday to provide any details about the review, when it started or what it means to the program.

“It is too early to provide an update on specific programs,” spokesperson David Jensen said in a statement.

“Ontario’s new government will be determining how to proceed now that it has been sworn in.

“Once the new minister has had the opportunity to review the file, she will determine what the next steps will be, if any.”

Grinspun said she first noticed issues in April when the yearly funding for the program is normally renewed but was told she’d have to wait until after the June 7 election for a resolution.

She realized the program was on hold after colleagues started calling to say they could no longer post job openings through the program.

When she went to the website, she discovered an advisory that the ministry was “conducting a review” of the program.

“They didn’t even call me to tell me this program was under review,” said Grinspun, who is also co-chair of the joint provincial nursing committee.

“They have never notified me to this day.”

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What graduating nurses are telling me is they want full-time work.” VICKI MCKENNA