Vaccine Mandates & Ontario’s Health Care System: A View From the Front Lines
United Health Care Workers of Ontario sends letter to Premier Doug Ford - October 20, 2021
Dear Premier Ford:
By letter of October 15, 2021, you sought advice from various hospital administrators on the impacts of a Province-wide vaccine mandate for health care workers, including the potential impact thereof on Ontario’s health care system.
United Health Care Workers of Ontario (UHCWO) is an unincorporated association, representing over 3,000 frontline healthcare workers, including nurses, physicians and paramedics, as well as administrative, professional and support staff across Ontario. With members from 50 regions across the Province, including urban and rural/remote communities, we consist of committed and compassionate health personnel, dedicated to the health and well-being of all Ontarians.
We have grave concerns with respect to the unintended consequences resulting from vaccine mandates for health care workers. On October 15, 2021, you acknowledged that fifteen percent (15%) of Ontario’s health care workers remain unvaccinated, putting the magnitude of potential staff losses in the tens of thousands. The Government must not risk exacerbating Ontario’s pre-existing staffing challenges any further. Mandatory vaccination would jeopardize the sector’s ability to deliver high-quality care and will likely cause the collapse of Ontario’s already overstretched health care system.
Ontario Government’s policy allows health care leaders to implement mandatory vaccination policies within their organizations. Many organizations have already gone outside the scope of Directive #6 and set various deadlines for their employees. This approach has already resulted in the suspension and termination of thousands of Ontario health care workers. Communities and patients across Ontario are now being put at risk because of staffing shortages.
The following are first-hand, frontline accounts from some of our members:
in London, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) recently closed an entire bay because of shortage of staff;
in Chatham, wait times for emergency care have been increasing without enough nurses. The OR is desperately trying to catch up on surgeries after Pandemic delays;
Ottawa’s regional trauma center is periodically unable to admit patients;
Guelph’s labour and delivery unit is often closed due to shortage of nurses, other than for most urgent cases;
in Central Ontario, a cardiac critical care unit has been operating with only 55% of the required nursing staff;
a busy endoscopy unit in Kitchener is seeing significant increase in colon cancer. With recent suspensions, doctors have been asked to reduce their list by at least one patient per block, per day, meaning some patients have to wait longer for a scope;
in Stratford, the plastic surgeon providing 50% of all on-call coverage to four rural hospitals will soon lose their privileges;
a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Unit has been consistently operating over capacity without enough highly trained staff;
in Toronto, elective surgeries are being canceled. There are too few staff to provide clinical care and to sterilize the equipment fast enough between procedures; and
in Milton, there are patient areas in the ER being closed on a daily basis due to nursing shortages.
We ask that you take decisive action and block the suspension and termination of thousands of health care workers. It would be irresponsible and negligent to put our health care system at risk by mandating vaccines, thereby purging tens of thousands of Ontario’s frontline health care workers out of the system. Please do not further jeopardize Ontario’s health system, especially as we enter flu season. The health of Ontario’s patients is in your hands.
We would be pleased to discuss the matter and answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
United Health Care Workers of Ontario
Per:
Anita Davis, RN
Frontline Health Care Provider