As a nurse practitioner practising in
Northern Ontario I urge the McGuinty government to live up to
campaign promises to hire more nurses and nurse practitioners
and to ensure full-time employment for both.
It is time to act now before we find
ourselves in the middle of another health-care crisis.
There have been no new nurse practitioner
positions announced since the last class graduated in 2003.
Under-serviced communities continue to wait for funding
announcements so they can hire nurse practitioners.
I urge the government to remove the barriers
to practise that nurse practitioners face every day. These
barriers result in our patients having to face needless delays
in access to health care. We understand that budget deficits
are higher than forecast, however, removing these barriers will
save this province a substantial amount of money. So, why delay
any further?
Nurses in Ontario support publicly funded and
accessible health care. We voted for change on Oct. 2. It is
now time to deliver on health-care promises and ensure that
Ontario regains it's ability to provide timely, equitable and
comprehensive health care for all its citizens.
Marilyn Butcher
Nurse practitioner