TORONTO – The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is again taking its concerns to the public about prolonged registered nurse (RN) cuts in the province’s hospitals to illustrate the significant impact that RN cuts are having on patients.
ONA’s “The Truth Hurts” campaign will hit the television and radio airwaves across the province today, and appear on social media, in print and on transit.
"ONA wants to ensure that our patients and every Ontarian knows what nurses know – cuts to RN care means that patients pay the price,” said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "Our hospitals are being starved of appropriate funding, and our patients are suffering as a result. In response to frozen or below the rate of inflation funding, hospitals continue to cut RNs in an effort to balance budgets, increasing patients’ vulnerability to suffering from unnecessary complications and an increased risk of death.”
Haslam-Stroud says that, “ONA's 62,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, nursing students, friends and supporters will be taking local action across the province. Nurses are patient advocates, and will be getting loud about Ontario having the worst RN-to-patient ratio of any province in Canada.”
“Nurses know the research has been clear: for every patient added to an average nurse’s workload, our patients have a seven per cent increased risk of suffering morbidity (complications) and mortality (death). There is no good reason to expose our patients to a higher risk of heart attacks, pneumonia, sepsis, blood clots, bedsores and even a risk of failure to save your life,” she said.
"Nurses know that every patient deserves the best quality care possible," Haslam-Stroud says. "ONA and its members will continue to speak up and speak out against cuts to Ontario's RNs. We ask the public to join us by visiting our Nurses Know website and speaking up for health care. Our patients really do come first, and it’s time for the government and employers need to answer the questions – do you want registered nurses caring for patients? The continued cuts to RNs is hurting our patients. The truth hurts.”
ONA is the union representing 62,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.
