Nurse Practitioners Call for Action to Address Red Tape that Blocks Public Access to Care

TORONTO, March 20, 2014 /CNW/ - On the eve of a new budget and a potential election, Ontario's Nurse Practitioners have released a platform calling on all political parties to take action in five key areas that will improve health care performance and value.

• "In today's constrained fiscal environment, it is critical that governments move quickly to embrace innovations that have been proven to benefit patients and save money.  This means deploying all health professionals in the right setting where evidence suggests they can provide real value to patients," said Theresa Agnew, Executive Director of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Ontario (NPAO). "Unfortunately, a number of out-dated regulations and misguided funding policies currently prevent the public from accessing the right care, at the right time, by the right provider."

Examples of these system inefficiencies include:

• Regulations which prohibit Nurse Practitioners from doing simple urine pregnancy tests or checking a patient's blood sugar even though Nurse Practitioners are able to order all blood tests through a lab;
• Policies which require Nurse Practitioners to refer patients who require specialist care to a family physician first for a duplicate consultation, wasting millions annually and leading to sub-optimal continuity in care;
• Regulations which prohibit Nurse Practitioners from using defibrillators to resuscitate patients in their own health centres even though they are allowed to use them in public setting such as hockey arenas.
• Government compensation policies which are incenting NPs to leave Community Health Centres, Nurse Practitioner Led Clinics, Family Health Teams and Aboriginal Health Access Centres despite the fact that there is strong agreement that we need accessible primary care for Ontarians close to where people live.

"These inefficiencies and outdated regulations prevent the people of Ontario from being the real focus of health care", said Agnew. The NPAO platform lays out five priorities to improve health care in the province, including:

• Modernization of Ontario's regulatory scheme to ensure that Nurse Practitioners are able to provide the care they were trained to provide.
• Addressing misaligned financial incentives which prevent hospitals and other health service providers from hiring and retaining Nurse Practitioners.
• The expansion of Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics (NPLC) to serve more Ontarians who are waiting for care.
• Increase the availability of Nurse Practitioners in Ontario's Long-Term Care homes to ensure more seniors have access to more timely care and can avoid costly hospitalization.
• A recruitment and retention plan to ensure that interprofessional primary care teams such as NPLCs, Family Health Teams (FHTS) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) can attract nurse practitioners and retain those currently practicing there.

"With 1 in 5 Nurse Practitioner (NP) positions vacant in community primary care, it is a challenge to attract and retain NPs without sufficient compensation," said Jill Burkholder, President of NPAO. "The province took bold steps a number of years ago to address an acute shortage in family physicians.  A similar approach is needed today to address the mounting crisis in access to community NPs and the comprehensive care they provide."

NPAO is initiating a campaign to secure broad political support for their strategies to ensure that patients are getting the care they need from the right provider.

Click Here for the NPAO platform "Better Care. Better Value. A plan from the province's Nurse Practitioners for a Healthy Ontario"   

NPAO is the professional voice for Nurse Practitioners in Ontario. Nurse Practitioners are registered nurses with advanced university education and experience who prescribe medications, admit, treat and discharge hospital patients, order and interpret laboratory tests and some diagnostic imaging tests. They work across the health system in hospitals, community care settings and in home care and palliative care settings.

SOURCE: Nurse Practitioners' Assocation of Ontario

For more information visit www.npao.org or contact Theresa Agnew, Executive Director, NPAO at [email protected] or 416-417-1803.