Local nurses got the chance to speak with a top official of the profession in an effort to change the funding formula in health care facilities.
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun toured southwestern Ontario Thursday to speak with and hear the concerns and solutions from nurses about their practice, along with the health system as a whole.
Dr. Grinspun said what the Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex sector needs is a change in the government's attitude towards how it finances health care.
"We have been urging the government, past and present, to change the funding formula," Dr. Grinspun said. "We want it changed from what we perceive as an archaic funding formula based on complexity of residents to a formula that accounts for complexity, but also quality outcomes."
Dr. Grinspun said the main problem is the better job nurses do in health care facilities, the more their funding is cut. She said if fewer falls or accidents are reported, the government takes it as a sign they don't need as much funding because they are doing a great job, something Dr. Grinspun said couldn't be further from the truth.
"When the funding gets cut back, the staffing gets decreased and we think that is absolutely absurd," Grinspun said. "Our government needs to incentivize improvements in quality and therefore, the homes should retain the funding to bring on additional programs to benefit resident care."
The CEO said she has already been in talks with parliament and Premier Doug Ford to push for change. She hopes to get at least one nurse practitioner per every hundred residents in every health care facility across Ontario. Dr. Grinspun added the association has been applauded for its effort to create this change, but admitted how long it takes will be up to the government.
She added Ontario's plans to increase the number of beds in facilities really won't make a difference if there are no workers left to tend to their sides.
Dr. Grinspun visited Fiddick's Nursing Home in Petrolia before going to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, then Meadow Park nursing home in Chatham, and ending up at Bacchus Ristorante in Windsor.
