TORONTO: The Ontario Nurses’ Association has made it clear that they are against measures in Bill 7 More Beds, More Care Act 2022 which allows some hospital patients to be forced to move to a long-term care homes without their consent.
Essentially, they view this as a potential violation of their rights and puts patients and health-care works in a difficult situation.
Bill 7 which was introduced one week ago, will not go to committee hearings and thus will be pushed through, with limited debate by government and key stakeholders.
ONA President Cathryn Hoy, RN, believes that, "Bill 7 does nothing to address the root causes of our hospital crisis in Ontario, which is a crisis of nurse and health-care staffing; it simply forces patients from one understaffed environment to another. Even more concerning, Bill 7 threatens patients' basic rights to freedom of choice and could result in vulnerable seniors being moved far from family and supports they rely on."
ONA highlighted a key issue that this move would introduce to health care staff. By forcing patients to enter long-term care homes this could result in inadequate care for them, as there are not enough nurses and health care workers to care for them properly. In addition, they point to the record or higher death rate, and poor health outcomes for residents, that was evident during the pandemic.
"Transferring patients without consent during the pandemic was meant to be an emergency measure, but Bill 7 normalizes this practice in dangerous ways, with grave implications for patients' rights and health outcomes which could suffer as a result of isolation and stress,” added Hoy.
