Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm calling from Ottawa, the beautiful land of the Algonquin and Anishinabe people.
Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for inviting me to present to this committee on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. As stated, my name is Linda Silas. I'm the national president.
I want to congratulate the health committee for undertaking this important study. In my world, we would call it retention and recruitment, because if you can't retain your nurses, you will never be able to recruit any.
Prior to the pandemic, nurses were exhausted and burnt out. A University of Regina report on nurses' mental health, which surveyed over 7,000 nurses, found that nurses screened positive for symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and major depression at similar or higher rates than public safety officers. In 2019, 29% had symptoms of severe burnout. Today, it's 45%.
The health workforce accounts for more than 10% of all employed Canadians, over two-thirds of all health care spending and nearly 8% of Canada's total GDP. Nurses are the largest group of regulated professionals in Canada. We have over 450,000 nurses who are responsible for much of the direct, hands-on care provided in Canada's health system. CFNU proudly represents most of these workers, who are at their patient's side 24-7, either in ICUs or in long-term care.
The Conference Board of Canada recently reported that by 2026, Canada could lose 20% of its health care workers due to retirement. Let's remember that over 50% of the health workforce is made up of nurses. In fact, Stats Canada reports that over a two-year period, the number of vacancies for nurses more than doubled. CFNU surveyed nurses across Canada just prior to the omicron wave, and 80% of nurses said there was not enough staff scheduled to meet the demands of patients or residents in long-term care.
Nurses also routinely report 16- to 24-hour shifts in some jurisdictions. This isn't safe. What does it mean to start your shift at 7 a.m. and think you're done by 3 p.m. or 7 p.m., just to be told you are mandated to stay because they are short-staffed? This happens to nurses like Pauline, who's a single mom with two kids. Who does she call at 7 p.m. to come and take care of her kids? What about Yvette, who needs to wear full PPE that looks like a haz-mat suit for her whole shift? Yvette can't even get a glass of water because all the break rooms are too small or simply closed. She is then asked to please stay a little bit longer.
One in two nurses says they are considering leaving their current job in the next year, and I'm pretty sure you're not wondering why. The reality is we can expect that even more nurses will head to the doors unless immediate actions are taken.
Before I finish today, I will share with you two more comments from nurses who are working today while I'm on Zoom speaking to you on their behalf. One said, “Nursing is my life and I have loved being one for 20-plus years. I hate feeling like it’s the worse job ever now and that no one even cares what we are going through.” Another one shared with me, “I am making an exit strategy.”
Please hear their voices now and commit to immediate funding for innovation projects to retain both our experienced nurses and the new nurse graduates who will not survive in their job unless things are radically changed. Please, let's not play the political football of whose responsibility it is. You represent Canadians in every part of this country. That includes Canada's nurses and Canada's patients.
Now it's time for us to discuss solutions such as funding for students, bridging programs, initiatives for late-career nurses and new grads, safe nurse-to-patient ratios, safe working conditions free from violence and mandatory overtime, permanent full-time jobs with respectful salaries and benefits, and a national body or agency to provide the best data and strategies to the provinces and territories.
This is a critical moment for nurses and the people whom we care for. Today's crisis has been years in the making. If we don't act now, we risk suffering a system-wide failure of our treasured universal public health care system.
Once again, thank you to the members of the committee.
I'll answer your questions later.