Policy and Political Action

Policy & Political Action

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Submissions

  • Submission: Ontario Pre-Budget Submission 2020: Investing in Health
    January 22, 2020

    RNAO's recommendations focus on four urgent health issues:

    1. Health system reform
    2. Primary care
    3. Long-term care
    4. Opioid overdose crisis. 

    In the view of nurses, these are public investments that will keep Ontarians healthy.

    The full submission is available here, or at the bottom of this document.

    Summary of recommendations

    1. Health System Reform

    • Commit to adding 2,500 RN Full-Time Equivalents per year, to begin catching up with the rest of the country’s RN to patient ratios.

    2. Primary Care

    • Transfer funding as appropriate to ensure that the 4,500 RNs currently working as care coordinators in LHINs are transitioned to primary care and other community-based organizations, with their contracts intact and no loss in compensation, benefits or seniority. 
    • Invest funding to allow NP-led clinics to open in communities where there is or will be insufficient access to primary care services. 

    3. Long-Term Care

    • Release the funding committed for the remaining 15 Attending NP positions in long-term care of the 75 positions that were to be released in the current budget year. 
    • Commit funding to add 50 Attending NPs in long-term care positions per year in order to move towards appropriate staffing levels. 
    • Review and transform funding models in LTC to account for both complexity of resident care needs and quality outcomes. LTC homes that decrease acuity (CMI) due to evidence-based care should retain all funding to reinvest in staffing and/or programs for residents. 
    • Increase direct care per resident day in LTC to four hours, as per Ontario’s Action Plan for Seniors. 
    • Mandate by 2025 a nursing and personal care staffing skill mix of at least 20 per cent RNs, inclusive of NPs and Clinical Nurse Specialists, and 25 per cent RPNs (and no more than 55 per cent personal support workers (PSW)).

    4. Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS)

    • Commit to approval and funding for CTS sites in communities where there is a need and where organizations are able and willing to create the sites. 
      • In the interim, commit funding for the five of the 21 CTS sites that have been allowed for (above the 16 currently operating), and streamline and expedite the CTS application process to ensure that all 21 sites are open as soon as possible.
      • Increase funding for all existing CTS sites to deliver the staffing levels essential to meeting demand for services.
         

  • Submission: Email response to posted proposed regulatory change re RN prescribing
    November 12, 2019

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed amendments to Ontario Regulation 275/94 (General), Part III (Controlled Acts) and Part V (Delegation) under the Nursing Act, 1991 to enable registered nurse (RN) prescribing. 

  • Submission: Email response to posted proposed regulatory change re psychotherapy
    November 12, 2019

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed regulatory amendments to Ontario Regulation 275/94 under the Nursing Act, 1991 to enable the initiation of psychotherapy by registered nurses (RN). The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing RNs, nurse practitioners (NP), and nursing students in all roles and sectors across Ontario, including those working in mental health. We strongly support these regulatory amendments to RN scope of practice.*

  • Submission: Strengthening Heat Resilience in the City of Toronto
    November 4, 2019

    The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and nursing students in all settings and roles across Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contributions to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve. This includes a long-standing commitment and history of action on the environmental and social determinants of health.

  • Submission: RNAO feedback on proposed amendments to regulation 778 of the Ministry of Correctional Services Act, 1990
    September 25, 2019

    The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association in Ontario representing registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and nursing students in all roles and sectors, including correctional nursing. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contributions to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve.

  • Submission: RNAO Submission on Violence Faced by Healthcare Workers To the Federal Standing Committee on Health
    June 7, 2019

    The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses (RN), nurse practitioners (NP) and nursing students in all settings and roles across Ontario. It is the strong, credible voice leading the nursing profession to influence and promote healthy public policy. 

  • Submission: RNAO's Response to Bill 74: The People's Health Care Act, 2019
    April 1, 2019

    RNAO appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 74, An Act concerning the provision of health care, continuing Ontario Health and making consequential and related amendments and repeals, known in its short title as, The People's Health Care Act, 2019.

    Each day across the province, many Ontarians receive life-saving and wellness-enhancing health services thanks to Canada's Medicare – a universal, single-payer health insurance system cherished by its citizenry. The support and care of a person's chosen family aligned with the knowledge, skill, and judgment of dedicated health professionals has allowed many Ontarians to have a high-quality life and a peaceful death. While acknowledging these strengths, there is much left to do. For many years RNAO has been urging the provincial government to recalibrate the balance between life-saving and wellness-enhancing services (strengthening the later), and address flaws that result in barriers to access with inequitable health outcomes, hallway health care, and other detrimental experiences.

    RNAO supports a health system transformation that will enable a person-centred, seamless health system that will promote health, prevent disease, and provide personalized wrap-around services to manage acute, chronic, and palliative care needs. In order to realize this objective, RNAO is pleased to offer the following pragmatic, solution-focused recommendations:

  • Submission: RNAO’s submission on Bill 66: the Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2018
    March 15, 2019

    RNAO wishes to respond on two levels to Bill 66, the Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2018.  First, we oppose the use of omnibus bills like Bill 66: they bundle together many unrelated legislative changes and that does not allow a reasonable discussion of the different issues that arise. There are 12 very different schedules in Bill 66, and we focus on just two of them in this submission: Schedules 5 and 10.  Both present significant threats to health and the environment. In fact, RNAO devoted many years to helping promote the very health and environmental protections which Bill 66 would weaken or eliminate, and we have a great deal invested in those protections. We urge the complete withdrawal of both Schedules 5 and 10.

  • Submission: RNAO’s submission to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
    February 14, 2019

    RNAO is pleased to respond to the consultation by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) on the draft terms of reference of its Potassium Iodide (KI) Pill Working Group. RNAO welcomes the commitment to form a working group to "provide clarity on the existing plans and associated responsible authorities to distribute KI Pills (in the Ingestion Planning Zone, within a 50-km radius) in the event of an emergency at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station."

  • Submission: RNAO Submission on RN Prescribing – Proposed Regulation Changes
    January 30, 2019

    Summary of RNAO Recommendations

    Recommendation 1. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) enables independent RN prescribing by:
    a) Specifying under regulation 17. (1) that an RN in the General class is authorized to prescribe any medication for the treatment of non-complex health conditions within their clinical competency area, with the exception of controlled drugs and substances.
    b) Removing “Schedule 4 Individual drugs and categories of drugs that may be prescribed” and all references to a schedule.
    c) Adding the authority for RNs to order and where appropriate perform diagnostic testing, inclusive of laboratory testing and point-of-care testing.

    Recommendation 2. CNO include an additional clause under 17. (6) that education approved by Council to educate RNs in prescribing medications may be independent of or part of the education and training required to become an RN.

    Recommendation 3. Indicate on the public Find-a-Nurse register that an RN has met CNO’s requirements to prescribe medication by including the notation the nurse is “authorized to prescribe”.