MPPs join calls for wage parity for nurse practitioners in Ontario

Time to recognize role of nurse practitioners Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas says the province must recognize the role nurse practitioners can play in easing the health-care crisis.

Two Sudbury politicians joined a small group of health-care professionals Wednesday morning to call for increased government support for nurse practitioners (NPs).

The news conference was outside the Sudbury Nurse Practitioners clinic on Larch Street, downtown.

Sudbury MPP Jamie West and Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas were flanked by a dozen nurse practitioners and other members of local primary health teams.

The group wants NPs to be paid similarly to counterparts providing the same highly skilled work.

Some primary care teams said the wage disparity has led to recruitment and retention problems since some are leaving the profession in search of better pay.

"If we can offer equitable pay, there's more chances of not only recruiting professionals but retaining our professionals," said Nicolle Plante-Dupuis, executive director of Univi Community Health Centre.

"We have many primary care providers who have been with us for over 10 years. We don't want to lose them to another area where they can make more money."

Univi Community Health Centre has four sites serving 4,200 patients in the French River, St. Charles and Markstay-Warren.

Plante-Dupuis said the centre has been without a social worker for 15 months. She said despite searching for a successful candidate, the centre couldn't compete with wages offered elsewhere.

That job vacancy issue within health-care institutions can lead to other issues like overcrowding in hospitals and longer wait times.

West said 'orphaned' patients -- those without primary care providers -- tend to go to hospital emergency departments for care when they don’t have an emergency.

"Primary care providers, including nurse-practitioner-led clinics and family health teams, help relieve the burden on our hospitals," he said.

Nurse practitioners have been advocating for higher pay for at least a decade.

"It’s not like this current government, or the previous Liberal government, didn’t know about this. They’ve just been ignoring it," West said.

"That's why we're having the press conference, to raise the awareness with the public that there are solutions out there that the current government is ignoring. What we want out of this is, really, for the Conservative government to recognize that there are solutions standing and staring them in the face."

Recently, 10 provincial associations launched the 'For Us. For You,' campaign highlighting the need for urgent investments in Ontario’s community health sector.