It’s time to protect nurses. Make safe staffing a priority.

Ontario’s nurses and health-care professionals have been sounding the alarm for years. As the province’s population ages, the number of patients needing health care will continue to increase, just like the acuity of their care. But the number of experienced nurses is not increasing at the same rate, which has created a pressure cooker of patient frustrations and poor working conditions that’s led to a toxic environment of violence, burnout, fear, and anxiety.

Violence is a huge problem. But it’s also a symptom of a health-care system that’s failing its patients and the nurses who provide their care. The immediate solution to preventing this situation from spiralling any further out of control is to demand our government to mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.