Canadian health care on ‘brink of disaster,’ nurses say!

Canadian nursing leaders say they’ve sent a message to the premiers as they meet this week that patients and nurses are suffering through a “dire staffing crisis” that threatens the sustainability of public health care.

A statement from Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses, says the system is “on the brink of disaster” and nursing leaders shared proposed solutions today as the premiers start their Council of the Federation meeting.

Silas says nurses have been “struggling through extreme staffing shortages, forced overtime and cancelled vacations, with no end in sight” to untenable conditions.

The federation says its proposals focus on retaining nurses, encouraging them to return to the profession and the public health-care system, and new measures to recruit and train the next generation.