Canada's health crisis: Experts suggest five measures to ease pressure on Ontario’s healthcare system

Ontario is one of Canada's largest provinces and it has been witnessing soaring wait times and emergency room closures. The ongoing staff shortage in the healthcare space is a point of serious concern. The government has acknowledged the problems in the healthcare system and was working on the potential solution.

To understand the issues and their potential solutions, The Canadian Press invited experts to present their suggestions. Overall, the experts and advocates have come up with five measures that could help ease the pressure on Ontario’s healthcare system. They are as follows:

1. Striking Down Bill 124

Introduced in 2019 by the Douglas Ford government, Bill 124 caps the salary hike of healthcare workers to 1% per annum for three years. Experts have indicated that the bill has compelled healthcare workers to switch to private sectors, resulting in staff shortages. Hence, they’ve suggested scrapping bill 124 and allowing healthcare workers to attain sufficient wages.

2. Register More Workers, Increase Training
The experts' second suggestion asks the government to register more people as healthcare workers and provide adequate training. This, the experts suggest, will ease the workload of the existing staff. Prof Abi Sriharan of the University of Toronto has suggested that the government must have a standardized accreditation system to expedite the registration of nurses. Currently, around 26,000 nurses are waiting to get registered in Ontario.



3. Build Standalone Surgery Centers
President of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Rose Zacharias, has suggested that it is essential to have state-funded standalone centers for performing less complex surgeries. Dr. Zacharias stated that this would free up hospital resources which can be directed to patients that need urgent and complex assistance. She further said that 22 million patients in the state received delayed services, out of which 10 million needed surgeries and cancer screenings.

4. Improve Working Conditions
Ontario has been criticized for deteriorating working conditions for healthcare workers, which the experts suggest need to change immediately. Burnout due to a hectic workload is a common phenomenon in the state healthcare system. The experts have asked for mental support for the workers urgently, and more comprehensive solutions in the long run.

5. Deploy Systems to Track and Prevent Shortages
While a staff shortage tracking system is needed at the national level, experts have suggested that such systems are needed at multiple levels. The system will help ensure an optimized distribution of the workforce to prevent service breakdowns or overload on the staff. Dr. Zacharias has also suggested that systems need to be more data-driven than anecdotal.