I've had the experience of working in many different provinces. I'm actually originally from Manitoba and I did my medical school training out in Winnipeg, so I'm very familiar with the hospitals there as well.
Regarding flow, I think it's very important for administrators to understand that patient care requires time. Quality assessments and plans require time. We have burnout rates here in Ontario of 63%. I cannot stress enough how much of a serious public health care crisis this is. We have been advocating for this for three years, but no level of government has taken us seriously.
Physicians have the highest rate of suicide compared to any profession. The mandatory reporting is cruel. It's cruel and it needs to change. There is no reason that in every other profession, mental health and physical health are considered to be equal, except for physicians.
Regulatory bodies need to adapt and change. Again, the Australian model is an amazing model to follow. In 2017, their governments passed legislation to support physicians who were suffering from mental illness instead of punishing them. Their governments have taken this issue very seriously. They have even created a front-line ombudsman, which is one of the other recommendations that we had. That allows front-line doctors, nurses and health care workers to actually bring their concerns to an independent body that can then address them. It also allows for confidential reporting of the actual incidents.
Those are part of our key recommendations. We would strongly urge the committee to look into many of the models that currently exist in Sweden and Australia. They are decades ahead of Canada in terms of addressing these issues.