TORONO – Ontario’s health minister has ordered the regulatory colleges for nurses and doctors to develop plans to speed up the registration of internationally trained professionals, a move that nursing groups and critics say falls short of the premier’s promise to do what passes out of his hand to deal with a staffing crisis in emergency departments.
Sylvia Jones sent instructions Thursday to the College of Nurses of Ontario and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, asking them to make every effort to register these nurses and doctors “as soon as possible” so they can practice in province and provide reports in two weeks on how they will accomplish this.
The minister also asked the nursing college to develop support for internationally trained nurses — for example, bringing their skills up to Ontario standards — to allow them to practice “on time.”
Hospitals have been under pressure in the province in recent weeks, with some emergency departments forced to close for hours or days at a time due to staff shortages.  More temporary closures are expected this weekend in Clinton, Ont.  and in St. Marys, Ont.
Nursing groups, hospital executives, other health professionals and advocates have said burnout after being on the front lines of COVID-19 for more than two years and inadequate compensation has caused people to leave the profession in droves.
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, said the system would benefit from more internationally trained nurses, but she wants to see the report from the college before assessing whether the directive will help.
He also said news of the directive alone did not amount to Premier Doug Ford doing everything in his power to address the staffing crisis, as he promised at a news conference Wednesday.
“This is still in line with Bill 124,” Hoy said, referring to legislation passed in 2019 that capped wage increases for public sector workers at one percent over three years.
“You’re going to bring in all these internationally trained nurses, who yes, they’re going to help because they’re nurses, but at the end of the day, who’s going to support them and orient them and guide them, because there aren’t enough nurses to do the job that we need in Ontario?  So we need to get retired nurses back and the only way you can do that is if you repeal Bill 124.”
Ford said Wednesday he would not repeal the wage cap legislation or increase the $5,000 retention bonus for nurses.  He also noted that provisions of the legislation are expiring and will not apply to the next contract negotiations for nurses.
But Hoy said if Bill 124 is repealed, current contracts could be renegotiated.
Doris Greenspoon, CEO of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, said she is pleased the directive has been issued and hopes it will clear a backlog of international nurses awaiting registration, pegged at 26,000.
But, he said, Bill 124 still needs to go.
“This is the conservation tool that hurts more than anything else,” Greenspoon said.  “Not only do we need to bring in more nurses, we need to keep them here, and this bill doesn’t allow us to keep nurses here.”
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said issuing the guidelines is a small step the government should have taken months ago.
“It’s clear that the government has done nothing so far to really increase the number of foreign-trained medical professionals in this province,” Fraser said.
“Then to say to a regulatory body, ‘Come up with an idea in two weeks.’  Shouldn’t the Department of Health be saying to the college, ‘Here are the kinds of things we think you should be doing’?  No, “Make a plan?”
NDP Deputy Leader Doly Begum said in a statement that the guidelines are “weak” and action must be taken.
“Ford and Jones have not provided funding or a way to complete the accreditation of doctors and nurses who want to work in Ontario,” he wrote.  “We cannot afford any more ambiguity.”
A 2020 report by Ontario’s justice commissioner showed that 14,633 internationally educated nurses were actively seeking licensure through the College of Nurses of Ontario.  In the same year, just over 2,000 international applicants became fully registered members.
The nursing college recently took steps to speed up the process, including changes to language proficiency requirements and working with the province to create more supervised practice opportunities, a spokeswoman said.
That program has added 762 nurses to the hospital system since the start of the pandemic, the government says.
The college has enrolled a record number of nurses this year, including more international nurses than in previous years, with 4,728 enrolled as of early August, although that number does not indicate how many of those nurses are now working in Ontario.
The college also says it is looking at ways to streamline the process.  To practice in Ontario, internationally trained nurses must demonstrate recent experience, pass an exam and demonstrate proficiency in English or French.
A college spokesman said it was working on a response to the directive that would provide more details about its plans for internationally trained nurses.
“An area we wish to continue to explore with system partners in academia and government is the need for targeted courses to address applicant education gaps, often an ongoing barrier to enrollment in IENs,” wrote Bradley Hammond in a statement.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on the prime minister Thursday to create a national health workforce data collection and coordination agency and provide pan-Canadian licensure for health professionals to help reduce shortages.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 4, 2022.