May 5, 2021

The Honourable Deputy Premier and Minister of Health 777 Bay St., 5th Floor Toronto, ON M7A 2J3

The Honourable Merrilee Fullerton Minister of Long-Term Care 400 University Ave., 6th Floor Toronto, ON M5G 1S5

The Honourable Minister of Colleges and Universities 438 University Ave., 5th Floor Toronto, ON M7A 2A5

Dear Minister Elliott, Minister Fullerton and Minister Romano:

As ’s major employers and educators of health and supportive care professionals in the province, we are committed to working with you in the fight against COVID-19 and the rebuilding of Ontario’s health workforce.

In both the short and long term, it will be critical to ensure that there is sufficient capacity across the health care system to address the urgent health care needs related to the devastating impacts of COVID-19. This includes the growing backlog for services and diagnostics that have been cancelled as a result of the pandemic and the growing attrition of health care providers.

Ontario’s success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the capacity of the health care system to treat patients, immunize the population, and continue to provide public health guidance to all Ontarians. In addition to the urgent need to accelerate staffing in long-term care, immediate action is required to strengthen the health human workforce in other areas, including acute care, public health, community and home care, and mental health and addictions. The province must also implement a comprehensive strategy given the highly interconnected and interdependent nature of the health care workforce.

We ask that you take immediate action by expanding enrolment in health and supportive care programs this fall along with facilitating the necessary supports for the additional clinical placements across the system that are required to support these additional learners. With the necessary funding to expand capacity to educate our workforce and to support additional clinical experiences across all disciplines, we believe that the government can help address the growing human resource shortfall before it further undermines our health care system.

Page 1 of 2 Given that it takes time to educate, reskill, and upskill health professionals, it is important to plan for capacity needs now so the province can deliver the necessary services for years to come. We are urgently calling on the province to establish an interprofessional health human resource planning table to analyze health workforce data and develop a strategy to ensure Ontarians have access to the right number and mix of qualified health care providers.

Comprehensive, high-quality data on the health workforce is essential to identifying gaps in health service provision, as well as informing future health workforce and health services planning and health policy. We recommend that government publicly release a database of accurate and detailed health human resource data to inform human resource planning in Ontario that is responsive to regional and local needs.

We believe that by working together, and taking immediate action, we can educate the necessary health professions to provide the vital health care services that Ontarians deserve.

Yours sincerely,

Anthony Dale Donna Duncan Linda Franklin Steve Orsini President and CEO Chief Executive Officer President and President and CEO Ontario Hospital Ontario Long Term CEO Council of Ontario Association Care Association Colleges Ontario Universities

c: Heather Watt, Chief of Staff, Minister’s Office, Ministry of Health Blair Hains, Chief of Staff, Minister’s Office, Ministry of Long-Term Care Ari Laskin, Chief of Staff, Minister’s Office, Ministry of Colleges and Universities Helen Angus, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health Richard Steele, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Long-Term Care Shelley Tapp, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Colleges and Universities

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