Consumption and Treatment Services
Consumption and Treatment Services as a Cornerstone to Ontario’s Approach to Harm Reduction
The Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario (NPAO) represents over 5000 Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in Ontario. NPs work in a variety of settings including, but not limited to, hospitals, NP-led clinics (NPLCs), community health centers, correctional institutions, public health units, shelters, and harm reduction settings such as supervised consumption sites.
In 2023, over 2600 Ontarians lost their lives to opioid toxicity, a 5% increase from 2022 (1) . The provincial government has announced the pending closure of 10 Consumption and Treatment sites across the province, as well as proposed legislation to prohibit the opening of any new supervised consumption sites or safer supply programs. The announcement has raised concern amongst our membership regarding access to holistic, comprehensive care; and opportunities for NPs to continue providing crucial health services for Ontarians in need.
Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) act as integrated service hubs that provide not only intervention in overdoses, but low-barrier access to mental health services, primary care and addictions treatment provided by NPs and other healthcare providers. CTS offer crucial services which decrease drug toxicity deaths as well as the transmission of infectious diseases through shared drug use equipment and connect service users to wrap around care such as housing and case management. The closure and prohibition of new CTS sites places Ontarians at higher risk of overdose deaths. The removal of these services will place additional strain on primary care, emergency medical services, and emergency rooms, leading to increased wait times for all Ontarians.
The Ontario Government has announced investments in Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs. While the NPAO welcomes the Ontario government’s investment in expanding substance use treatment, the prohibition of safer supply, supervised drug consumption and needle exchange services within these hubs raises alarm and runs counter to the 2023 Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations to increase access to supervised consumption services and distribution of sterile injection equipment (2) . This announcement also coincides with the anticipated loss of federally funded safer supply programs, in which NPs in Ontario have played a leadership role in the provision of low- barrier substance use care. The NPAO urges the Ontario government to continue funding substance use care informed by relevant experts, including NPs.
NPs are ideally positioned to provide Ontarians with the high-quality, timely care they deserve, working in tandem with other members of interprofessional care teams to support vulnerable communities when and where they need it. The NPAO remains committed to working with the provincial government to improve the integration of NPs in the healthcare system and ensure Ontarians’ access to care.
- The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. Suspect Drug-Related and Drug Toxicity Deaths in Ontario. (2024). Accessed: August 29, 2024. Available from: https://odprn.ca/occ-opioid-and-suspect-drug-related-death- data/.
- Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Balancing Act: An All- of-Society Approach to Substance Use and Harms (2023). Accessed: August 29, 2024. Available from: https://www.ontario.ca/files/2024-04/moh-cmoh-annual-report-2023-en-2024-04-02.pdf.
