- Hub staff

At a media event today, Minister of Health Christine Elliott said the Ontario government is collaborating with Ontario Health (OH) and the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) on initiatives to deploy internationally educated nurses to hospitals and other health care settings in need of staffing support to work as part of a team under the supervision of a regulated health care provider, such as a registered nurse or doctor. More than 1,200 internationally educated CNO applicants have expressed interest in participating in these initiatives so far and matching with health-care providers is expected to begin later this week, with onboarding new staff in the weeks ahead.

“We are relentlessly focused on modernizing our applicant assessment process to ensure the health care system has access to skilled nurses needed to deliver safe, quality care,” said Anne Coghlan, CNO’s Executive Director & CEO. “In December alone, we registered 850 nurses. With the launch of the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership, we are providing an immediate response to the workforce needs of the Ontario health care sector, while maintaining our focus on public safety.”

Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario,  made the following statement in response to Minister Elliott's statement,  "I’m relieved the Ford government has finally listened to the calls from healthcare leaders to deploy internationally educated nurses in Ontario. For months, Ontario Greens have called for this as part of our comprehensive nursing recruitment and retention plan. Now let’s Repeal Bill 124." You can find the Ontario Greens' full nursing recruitment and retention plan here.