Temporary emergency room closures and increased wait times have become increasingly common in Ontario as the province's health-care system grapples with staffing shortages
Premier Doug Ford has acknowledged that more can be done to ease health-system pressures, but his throne speech this week fell short of offering solutions to the problem.
Dr. Michael Warner, an intensive care physician at Toronto's Michael Garron Hospital, warned keeping the law in place could spur more public sector health-care workers to jump ship for private agencies, where they could earn more. The premier has noted that the provisions in Bill 124 expire and won’t apply to the next contract negotiations, but has not said he would repeal the law.Experts say more people need to be registered and trained to work in health care to lighten the workloads of those currently in the sector.
Abi Sriharan, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, said Canada should have a standardized accreditation system. That would allow any doctor or nurse that wants to work in Ontario to easily make the transition without going through a lengthy and often expensive licensing process, Sriharan said.
Over the course of the pandemic, she said 22 million patient services were delayed, 10 million of which were surgeries and cancer screening procedures. That's contributing to the "strain" that is being felt in emergency departments, she said.
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