Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario Applauds Government of Ontario’s Investment in Long Term Care

Investing in Nurse Practitioners for long term care is a positive step forward

(Ontario, CA)

The Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario (NPAO) is pleased the Government of Ontario is committing to invest in Long Term Care with $57.6 million to hire 225 Nurse Practitioners (NPs).   It is gratifying that the Government acknowledges the tremendous value that NPs can bring to Long Term Care residents.  

NPAO President Amanda Rainville states, “Nurse Practitioners perform many roles across the health-care spectrum thanks to a wide-ranging scope of practice.  With the complexity of long term care residents increasing, it is that range of care and their compassionate, wholistic approach to patient care that make Nurse Practitioners ideally suited to the needs of long term care.”:

NPs stepped up in long term care with the onset of the pandemic undertaking many roles inside long term care residences, including acting as Medical Directors by emergency order.  NPAO has advocated for a permanent legislative change to allow NPs to take on the Medical Director role in long term care homes.

It is somewhat disappointing that this is not scheduled to take effect until 2022-23 as the leadership that Nurse Practitioners can provide in long term care is needed now, and particularly with the significant investment the Government of Ontario is making to add thousands of PSWs, RPNs and RNs to long term care.  While this is a step in the right direction, the goal that NPAO has pushed the Government for is 1 NP per every 100 LTC beds.  It will take almost 500 NPs to achieve that level of care. 

This is a critical time for the future of long term care in this province.  We need to do things differently to get different outcomes…investing in Nurse Practitioners for long term care is a positive step forward.

Please contact Dana Cooper, NPAO Executive Director with any questions at dcooper@npao.org.