Our Future Your Health: support for nurses and nursing students
- Maria Torres
- Closed on
this site was very useful and gave a wide range of people access to my petition. I thank you for making this site user friendly and functional.
In the May, 2004 budget announcement, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to create 8000 full time nursing positions and allocated $2 million dollars to support mentoring of new graduate nurses. On January 17, 2005, Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman announced hospitals would be allowed to cut the equivalent of 757 full-time nurses, in order to balance their budgets.
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) responded immediately, and Doris Grinspun presented a speech to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs on January 19, 2005.
The following day, the Toronto Star announced,Premier Dalton McGuinty stated that nurses who are laid off from hospitals could always find work in other parts of the health care system. The message the government is sending to the public and to nurses is that nursing salaries are too high for hospital budgets, and that nurses are expendable.
Nurses, tired of being told they are expendable, are leaving the province of Ontario, and the profession of nursing. Hospitals risk working with younger, less experienced nursing staff that do not have adequate guidance from senior more experienced nurses.
As a result, we are concerned about our future careers and your health, because the governments lack of support for nurses will affect us all.
TO: Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Whereas: The Ontario minister of Health, George Smitherman, on January 17, 2005, announced hospitals would be allowed to cut 757 full-time registered nurses in order to balance their budgets and;
WHEREAS this announcement is contradictory to the long term care plan the Ontario Minister of Health proposed to nurses on May 10, 2004 and;
WHEREAS this decision will have adverse effects on public health and the profession of Nursing and;
WHEREAS future students will be discouraged from persuing a career in the field of nursing and;
WHEREAS this announcement shows a lack of respect and support for Nurses by the government of Ontario.
We the undersigned, support the call to increase funding for full time registered nurses to maintain the integrity of the Canadian health care system, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:Increase the number of full time nursing positions and to keep experienced nurses working.
The Our Future Your Health: support for nurses and nursing students petition to Ontario Legislative Assembly was written by Maria Torres and is in the category Health at GoPetition.