New Health Workforce Data Report Confirms Staffing Shortage is Worsening, Particularly in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes

TORONTO, ON, February 29, 2024 – The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) says that data in a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) confirms that Ontario’s nursing shortage is worsening, especially in long-term care, and those headed to for-profit corporate nursing agencies is on the rise.

This, says ONA President Erin Ariss, RN, “is particularly bad for residents living or working in long-term care homes. The number of registered nurses (RNs) working in long-term care is plummeting, even as the need increases. The number of RNs in Ontario’s long-term care homes has dropped by 6.3 per cent – mostly during the pandemic. This is leaving residents without the care they dearly need and deserve.”

The CIHI report released today examines the state of the Canadian health workforce in 2022, two years after the declaration of a global pandemic. The report notes that the number of RNs working in Ontario dropped in 2021 and 2022. It found the growth rate of RNs is decreasing, while the number of registered practical nurses has increased. The number of nurses working in agencies increased by 9.2 per cent, year over year, in 2022. The number of RNs working in long-term has decreased and is now at the lowest since 2015.

“CIHI found that the number of nurses leaving direct care positions is outnumbering those entering the profession,” says Ariss. Meanwhile, the ability to set their own schedules and be compensated more respectfully has more nurses fleeing their public-sector positions for the for-profit nursing agencies. There was a 9.2 per cent growth in nurses working for these agencies in 2022. That, in a nutshell, is why employers in every health-care sector must respect their nurses and pay them properly.”

Ariss says that as the registered nurses and health-care professionals in Ontario long-term care homes begin bargaining for a new collective agreement, employers would be advised to keep the data in this report top of mind.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

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To arrange an interview, contact:

ONA Media Relations, media@ona.org