March 4, 2024 | Mississauga, ON | Health Canada

With more than 450,000 members, nurses are the largest group of regulated healthcare professionals in Canada and play a critical role in Canada’s healthcare system. However, nurses are currently facing increased workloads, high rates of burnout, stress, anxiety and depression, and in some cases, abuse.

To support and retain nurses, the Honorable Mark Holland, Canada’s Minister of Health, along with Ms. Leigh Chapman, Canada’s Chief Nursing Officer, today announced the opening of Trillium Health Partners’ Credit Valley Hospital Nurse Retention Toolkit: Improving the Work Lives of Nurses in Canada. This toolbox, aimed at improving the professional lives of nurses, will be shared across the Canadian healthcare system, including nurses, employers of nurses and health authorities across the country.

Created by and for caregivers, this resource is the result of a collaboration with the nursing community that shares the federal government’s commitment to improving caregiver retention in Canada. The toolkit focuses on eight key themes and includes relevant initiatives that nursing employers can implement to support employee retention. The eight main themes are: flexible and balanced working methods; organizational support for mental health and wellbeing; professional development and mentoring; Reduction of administrative burden; strong management and communication; clinical governance and infrastructure; inspired leadership; and safe staffing practices.

Based on evidence-based practices, the lived experiences of frontline nurses and the perspectives of nurses at all stages of their careers, including nursing students, the toolkit enables employers and health authorities to work together to develop standardized programs across Canadian health care organizations and systems . This will identify existing initiatives that can be scaled and expanded across different organizations and jurisdictions to share best practices and support nurse retention across Canada.

The health workforce is the cornerstone of the health care system and the Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories and other key partners to address the challenges facing the health workforce. The 2023 budget lays out the government’s plan to invest nearly $200 billion to improve health care for Canadians. This includes supporting healthcare workers through retention, recruitment and planning.

The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories and health sector partners to find solutions to long-standing health workforce issues so that nurses and other health care workers can continue Health Canada’s important work to ensure the health and safety of Canadians .