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The latest Canadian Institute for Health Information data shows that the total number of RNs and LPNs in the country continues to rise. Hopefully, this trend will continue or even accelerate so that we can reclaim the nurse to population ratio we had in the early 1990s.

Several other factors play into the problem of nurse workload.

there is an increase in the complexity of care

September 30, 2013

Canada will face a cost crisis unless compensation schemes for physicians are retooled to account for declining workloads, warn health economists.

Payments to physicians have increased over the past decade, at rates outstripping inflation. Not adjusting for inflation, physician payments rose 6% in 2010–11, after increases of 9.7% in 2008–09 and 7.9% in 2009–10, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. This spike was preceded by a period of "relatively flat" physician expenditures in the 1990s, when provincial governments capped payments and controlled physician supply.

Posted on July 11, 2016

REGINA: A new report from the CUPE Saskatchewan Health Care Council shows that understaffing and workload are critical issues in continuing care in this province.

September 6, 2015

Michael Hurley and Sam Gindin

If unions can't affect something as basic as the daily oppression of overwork and its link to injuries and constant physical and mental exhaustion, it's all the less likely that they can develop member confidence in broader collective action.

Health Care Assistants include care aides and community health workers. Every day, these dedicated health care staff work miracles to provide quality care to the frail elderly and others who require assistance with their personal care needs. These care staff assist residents, patients and clients with their most intimate care needs like toileting, bathing, dressing and eating. Care aides, community health workers, and other health care assistants -- visit our Time to Care page Check out our wrap on today's edition of 24 Hours Vancouver Listen to our radio ad airing across B.C. on October 18 read HEU secretary-business manager Bonnie Pearson's message on Health Care Assistant Day But care aides and community health workers are also like family, providing opportunities for the social interaction that is so fundamental to quality of life of the elderly. Unfortunately, care aides and community health workers often struggle under impossible workloads to deliver good care in homes, nursing homes and hospitals.

Let's honour HEU's care aides and community health workers.

Every day, these dedicated health care staff work miracles to provide quality care to the frail elderly and others who require assistance with their personal care needs. These front line care staff assist residents, patients and clients with their most intimate care needs including toileting, bathing, dressing, eating and more. For many, they are also like family, providing the social interaction and personal contact that is so fundamental to helping the elderly maintain their quality of life. Unfortunately, care aides and community health workers often struggle under impossible workloads to deliver safe, compassionate care in homes, long-term care facilities and hospitals.

The Globe and Mail Thu Jul 9 2015

Whether it's to help boost their paycheques, complete a project or satisfy their workaholic spirit, some employees think little of logging extra hours on the job. But experts say significant stretches of overtime without adequate time for recovery could not only result in diminished work performance, but it could also pose potentially serious health risks. A University of Massachusetts study published by the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2005 explored the impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illness.

Researchers cited studies associating overtime and extended work schedules with heightened risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, stress, depression, chronic infections, diabetes and death. They also noted some studies found evidence of links between long working hours and an increased risk of occupational injuries, including among construction workers, nurses, miners, bus drivers and firefighters. "While some occupations have restrictions on length of work shift, most don't," said Dr. Cameron Mustard, president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto.

North Bay Nugget Tue Dec 1 2015

The size of your wallet should not determine the quality of health care you receive. That was the message delivered to close to 1,000 protesters calling for the provincial government to free up more money for hospitals in Northern Ontario - particularly the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

"In North Bay, and across Northern Ontario, we are seeing the most severe cuts," said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The rally drew supporters from across the province to protest cuts across the province. This year, the North Bay Regional Health Centre announced it is cutting almost 160 positions and closing more than 30 beds in an attempt to stave off a flood of red ink. "Here you are looking at 100 layoffs every year" if the province does not end a freeze on healthcare spending, Silas said.

A rising workload means ambulances are not able to reach all emergency patients within provincial response times, Hastings-Quinte Emergency Medical Services Chief Doug Socha said, adding the only solution is more staff.

He said the service is stretched to "maximum capacity," and not only will some rural residents not get an ambulance during peak times, but Hastings County is paying thousands of dollars in overtime wages as well.

The "critical" problem isn't so much the current situation as the risk related to future calls, he said. Paramedics are busiest in the region's urban centres--and last year their response times actually improved.

Oct 25, 2016

The CUPE Saskatchewan Health Care Council Medical Diagnostic Technologists and Technicians Committee has developed a survey to get more information about how workload and staffing issues are affecting members at work and at home. 

increased for-profit delivery has led to decreased transparency

Using for-profit laboratories increases the cost of diagnostic testing and hinders the integration of health care services

In 2012, Canadian governments will pay private corporations over a billion dollars (a conservative extrapolation from recent spending in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan)1 for medical laboratory services, making them among the most privatized of Canada’s essential medical services.

May 27, 2016

An independent panel of nursing experts has made an unprecedented 91 recommendations to improve patient care in the 3C Acute Medical Short Stay Unit at Sault Area Hospital."The expert panel found that nursing professional practice and workload concerns raised by registered nurses are legitimate and justified," said Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "The panel made recommendations to address what our nurses know are insufficient base RN staffing levels, unsafe, unmanageable and dangerous nurse-patient ratios, a high level of patient acuity and activity that has left our dedicated RNs unable to provide quality care and meet their professional practice standards."

Jul 11, 2016

A new report from the CUPE Saskatchewan Health Care Council shows that understaffing and workload are critical issues in continuing care in this province. “There have been many stories in the media about understaffing and the impact on residents, but this report shows the stress this is placing on workers,” said Gordon Campbell, president of the CUPE Health Care Council. “Our members care deeply about their residents and their families, but lack of frontline staff is making it hard to provide the type of care we want to.”

"A major issue for our rural diagnostic health care professionals is recruitment and retention, and being understaffed because jobs are not being filled. These professionals are having to work too much overtime and then have to be on call — it’s exhausting and isn’t sustainable.” — Michelle Gawronsky, President MGEU Winnipeg (9 Aug 2016) — Starting today for the next 2 weeks, workers at Diagnostic Services of Manitoba (DSM) — members of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU/NUPGE) Locals 388–390, 392 and 393 — will take a strike vote at meetings across the province.

Employer's final offer didn't address workload and staffing issues

11 nurses earned more than $150,000 last year, another 15 made more than $130,000

Aug 06, 2015

Eleven nurses with the Nova Scotia Health Authority are making double their salary and dozens more are earning tens of thousands of dollars more in overtime, documents show.

Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions says system 'living on overtime'

Apr 15, 2015

Twelve years ago the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions warned that retirements would begin to affect the health-care system over a 15-year period, and now the organization's president says the impact of an aging workforce is starting to pinch.  Linda Silas says some governments haven't adequately replaced retiring nurses because of budget cuts and too often use overtime as a crutch to fill staffing gaps.

Paramedics in rural Manitoba are calling for a mandatory limit on the number of consecutive hours they can work, as they say fatigue is jeopardizing their safety.

Manitoba Government Employees Union

a cap of 16 consecutive hours

The nearly 2 million home care workers—about 92 percent of whom are women—who take care of the elderly and people with disabilities often work 12-hour days and 60 to 70 hours a week. But they are seldom paid overtime and their net income is often less than the minimum wage. Unlike workers covered by federal labor laws, they are not paid for all the hours they are on the clock

Because of a 45-year-old rule, home care workers are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, overtime and other provisions. In December the Obama administration proposed a rule to bring home care workers under the law’s protection.

The poverty wages that typify the home care industry contribute to high employee turnover rates which are costly, threaten quality of care and can increase workloads and lower morale.…Long hours can also result in worse care for patients, as care-givers working 60- or 70-hour weeks face fatigue and stress performing what is a demanding job under any circumstances.Click here for her full testimony.

The union says that a WorkSafe BC guide on preventing dementia-related violence being previewed in Vancouver today offers solid information for caregivers on interventions that can prevent or minimize the risk of on-the-job injury. But it’s only part of the solution.

The research is unequivocal, resident aggression and violence against workers is reduced when adequate staffing levels are in place and continuity of care is maintained

A 2009 Stats Canada study of long-term and acute care facilities across the country found a clear link between abuse from patients/residents and the workplace environment. And a 2008 York University study on violence in 71 unionized, public, long-term care facilities in Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia found that short-staffing, workload, lack of supervisor support, and inadequate trainingto deal with mental health issues like dementia were contributing factors to violence at work.