RNAO Updates

RNAO statement in support of Bill 13: Time to Care Act RNAO applauds members of the Ontario legislature for acting unanimously and in the best interests of residents in long-term care (LTC) homes by voting in favour of Bill 13 on Oct. 29, 2020. RNAO fully supports Bill 13 and urges the government to move this bill quickly through the legislative process so it becomes law. The private member’s bill, introduced by London-Fanshawe NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong in 2018, passed second reading and now goes to committee. It calls for amendments to the Long-Term Care Homes Act to establish a minimum of four worked hours of nursing and personal support services per resident, per day – in all Ontario nursing homes. Bill 13 takes us one step closer to RNAO’s vision of safer, higher quality and evidence-based care as laid out in its Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee. If passed, this bill will help improve the safety and quality of care for residents and will address long-standing, severe staffing shortfalls resulting from decades of policy and funding inaction.

RNAO continues to speak out in the media about issues related to COVID-19 and our calls to the Ontario and federal governments for action regarding the alarming rise in the pandemic wave. This month, we focused primarily on two key issues: tightening restrictions in regional hotspots to slow the spread of the virus, and addressing the renewed and predictable crisis in long-term care (an issue we’ve been pushing for months – and years!).

Our experience over the last seven months has demonstrated that this is not only a problem in Ontario. COVID-19 swept through LTC homes across the country early, taking the lives of more than 5,000 residents. That number represents more than 80 per cent of all COVID-19-related deaths in Canada. To our shame, the average percentage of COVID-19-related deaths among nursing home residents across other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries was less than half of Canada’s. This is a national failing that cries out for a national response.

Nurses are relieved to hear Premier Ford is taking important steps to lessen the spread of COVID-19, especially in areas where cases counts are especially high, including Toronto, Peel and Ottawa. The government should act fast to add additional regions to these measures, based on the relevant indicators.

RNAO has been increasingly alarmed at the rise of cases and the timid measures advanced by the Ontario government to flatten the second wave. Simply said, the later we act, the larger the price we will pay – both in illness, death, an overwhelmed healthcare system, and in economic costs. This is a basic lesson we learned during the first wave, and we are extremely worried.

Why is RNAO insisting that the federal government set National Standards for LTC homes in Canada and tie federal funding to upholding jurisdictions to deliver those standards? In short, we’ve lost trust that the Ontario government will act in any substantive way in the absence of external pressure. In Ontario alone, more than 35 reports on LTC have been issued in 21 years, and although during this period we’ve had a number of different governments, not much has been done to improve the lives of LTC residents, their families and the hard-working staff that serve them.

Nursing plays a critical role in ensuring that evidence-based transfusion practices are followed. Nurses are an important part of the transfusion team that includes the ordering clinicians (including NPs) and the medical laboratory technologists in the blood bank. Often, the nurse may be the individual who follows up on abnormal hemoglobin results and is also aware of whether the patient is symptomatic or bleeding. The nurse will also be the first point of contact for the medical laboratory technologists calling the floor to inquire about the patient’s status, and the first to notice most of the acute adverse events related to transfusion.

RNAO has been particularly active in recent months addressing structural inequities that led to vulnerable populations suffering the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. RNAO is adding its voice to a campaign launched in June supported by hundreds of progressive organizations in Canada calling for a just and sustainable recovery from COVID-19. RNAO is the first large nursing organization in Canada to join, and we urge all other nursing organizations to add their voices to this tremendous international initiative. We can’t go back to business-as-usual after the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why we’re building a movement for a #JustRecoveryforAll that puts people first.

RNAO remains concerned about the reopening schools in Ontario, and calls on the Ontario government to follow the evidence and mandate the physical distance, proper ventilation and masking for all school children that will keep them, their families and our communities safe.

Each year in the winter months, hospitals and other health and social services feel the pressure of increased demand due to influenza and other seasonal ailments such as falls and seasonal affective disorder, a phenomenon called the Winter Seasonal Surge Season, fondly termed “Winter Surge”. This year, the seasonal strain on our health care system is expected to be compounded by a second wave of COVID-19 cases, so it is even more imperative to develop effective approaches to address Winter Surge.