Ontario’s hospitals are at a breaking point, driven by severe understaffing and escalating burnout among healthcare workers, according to a new study.
The study, titled “Running on Empty,” conducted in collaboration with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions-Canadian Union of Public Employees, paints a grim picture of the province’s healthcare system.
The report interviewed 26 healthcare workers in the province and reviewed existing literature on the healthcare sector and the effectiveness of hospitals and their workers.
“You think it can’t get any worse — and it just got worse. I was going through increasing panic attacks before work, crying before I got out of the car. I loved going to work when I first started. Now I dread it,” said a trauma department nurse who participated in the in-depth interviews.
The study cited previous research that noted increased exhaustion, burnout, fear, anxiety, and frustration among healthcare workers following the pandemic. Since the onset of the pandemic, the study said that healthcare workers have faced unprecedented demands.
“One of the foundations of overwork is understaffing, which leads to heavier workloads, poorer care, and increased strain from health and safety risks. In turn, they are experiencing negative physical and mental effects, including stress and anxiety,” reads the study. “Burnout and negative coping strategies have also increased, and patient care is compromised.”
According to the study, Canada had seven hospital beds per 1,000 people in 1976. By 2024, the number had fallen to 2.6 beds per 1,000 people. Another sharp decrease experienced by Canada was its fall from fourth place of 11 high-income countries in terms of healthcare performance to 10th place, or second last, between 2004 and 2021.
“The depletion of hospital staffing in Ontario is worse than in most of the other provinces,” reads the study. It cited that Canadian provinces average 18% more staff per capita than Ontario.
A previous report found that Canada had the least amount of doctors per capita among OECD countries.
Running on Empty added that the shortages of nurses and personal support workers will “increase substantially over the next five years.”
A previous poll conducted by OCHU/CUPE in Oct. 2023 showed that 69% of healthcare workers disagree that there are enough staff to deliver high-quality patient care.
“The nurses were particularly affected by their work: 60.7% reported trouble sleeping; 36% suffer depression; 64.9% have anxiety; 75.4% experience high stress; and 55.9% dread going to work,” reads the study. “43.6% of the nurses said violence had increased or somewhat increased since the beginning of the pandemic.”
While healthcare workers are struggling to cope with the added demand, patients are struggling to even be seen by a healthcare professional.
The interviewees for the study conducted in collaboration with OCHU/CUPE cited emergency room wait times as “egregious due to insufficient system alternatives, such as family doctors, urgent care centers, and after-hours clinics.”
Canadians faced the longest wait time ever to see a healthcare specialist and receive treatment in 2023.
“We’re always working short-staffed. We have a backlog of over two years. We hardly have time to take breaks or go to the washroom… I don’t think patients are getting the care they need,” said an outpatient clinic nurse.
One clerical worker interviewed for the Running on Empty study said the Ontario healthcare system is in shambles.
“Seeing the system, the way it is, I’m getting scared to get sick myself. Do I really want to come to my own facility? The exterior looks fine, but on the inside… everything’s falling apart,” they said.
Wages have not kept up with inflation, according to the study. The average wage for healthcare workers compared to all-industry wages decreased from 102.4% to 93.9% between 2017 and 2023, it added.
The study on Ontario’s healthcare system concluded that the recent exodus of healthcare workers is unprecedented. Additionally, future population growth and an aging workforce will worsen the problems.
The research calls for urgent measures to moderate workloads across the hospital’s workforce, including increasing funding and, subsequently, nurse-to-patient ratios.
According to another study, 1,199 closures of healthcare departments occurred in Ontario in 2023. The temporary and permanent closures consisted of 868 emergency departments, 316 urgent care centres, two outpatient laboratories, 11 obstetric units, one ICU, and one labour and delivery unit.