Ontario NDP health critic calls for more support for nurse practitioners

The Ontario NDPhealth critic says the provincial government has failed to properly fund and support nurse practitioner positions.

Through an order paper question, Nickel Belt MPP France Glinas found that of Ontario's 25existing nurse practitioner-led clinics, only four were getting an extra nurse through a recent $110 million announcement to connect more Ontarians to primary care teams.

However, Ontario's Ministry of Health saidthe $110 million infunding would create and expand sevennurse practitioner-led clinics.

The ministry's response to Glinas includes a list of 78 expanded primary care teams. Four of them are existing nurse practitioner clinics and one is a new clinic, planned in Ottawa.

"Family health teams, community health centres and other interdisciplinary teams, not just nurse practitioner led clinics, can all hire nurse practitioners and many are using the historic investment from our province to do just that," said the ministry's email to CBC News.

"MPP Gelinas would not know the details of each team's application."

In anannouncementmade in February, the province said the $110-million investment would connect 328,000 people to primary care teams.

"[T]he government is making a record investment of $90 million to add over 400 new primary care providers as part of 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams," the press release said.

In Ontario nurse practitioners are authorized to prescribe medications, complete a patient's comprehensive health history, order lab tests and some diagnostic imaging tests.

The Ontario Medical Association says 2.3 million Ontarians don't have access to a family doctor.

Glinas says nurse practitioners could help fill that gap.

"We have underemployed nurse practitioners throughout Ontario, including in Sudbury, including in northeastern Ontario," she said.

"Those are mainly women who would love to take on thousands and thousands of people that don't have access to primary care. But there are no positions funded to hire them."

Glinas said a nurse practitioner clinic in the Greater Sudbury community of Capreol has applied for additional funding for several years but "hasn't heard a peep back" from the province.

In its email to CBC News the Ministry of Health says the"$110 million announcement includes a increase in operational funding for every existing interprofessional primary care team, including theCapreol clinic."

Glinassays that while that's true, that operational funding is to cover things like hydro costs, not hiring additional nurse practitioners.

Investments from the province

In an exchange in Queen's Park on Monday Nolan Quinn, the parliamentary assistant to Ontario's health minister, said that in addition to the $110-million announced in February, the province is also investing $546 million over the next three years to expand primary care spots.

"We're also funding the largest expansion of medical school spots in over a decade, adding 1,212 undergraduate and 1,637 postgraduate seats across Ontario," Quinn said.