Registered Practical Nurses--Major increases

A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that the Licensed Practical Nurse (or Registered Practical Nurse) workforce has grown rapidly since 2006 -- and much faster than the population.

The trend has been especially marked in Ontario. Between 2006 and 2010, 5,061 new RPN positions were created in Ontario, increasing RPN numbers from 25,084 to 30,423. That is a 21.3% increase.

The number of RPNs per capita also increased from 198 (per 100,000 population) to 230 (per 100,000), a 16.2% increase. Canada-wide the increase was 15%.

There is a wide discrepancy in the number of LPNs (RPNs) per capita from province to province. Ontario is close to the country-wide average (230 RPNs per 1000,000 population in 2010, compared to 238 country-wide). But in Newfoundland, the ratio is 489 per 100,000, while in BC it is 182 per 100,000 (the number declines pretty much as you move from east to west).

In Ontario, full time RPN employment increased most rapidly (28.1% between 2006-2010), while part-time and casual RPN employment increased more slowly (12.2% and 15.8% respectively). Similar increases in those categories were seen Canada-wide as well. By 2010, 58% of the RPN workforce was employed full time in Ontario (Canada-wide the figure was a little lower -- 49.6%).

The profession remains dominated by women, who comprise over 90% of the RPN workforce. But men are becoming a somewhat bigger part of the RPN workforce in Ontario, increasing from 5.9% to 6.6% (and from 7% to 7.5% Canada-wide).

Almost half of the RPN workforce in Ontario work in hospitals (44.9% in 2010) with 37.5% working in long term care facilities. Similar numbers apply country-wide. Employment in community care is much smaller (11.5% in Ontario), but that sector is seeing the most rapid growth by far (50.4% growth between 2006-10, versus 19.4% in hospitals, and 31.5% in LTC).

Registered Nurses (RNs) remain the largest nursing category in Canada. But growth has been slower, with the RN workforce growing 5.7% in Ontario between 2006-2010 and 5.8% across Canada. In Ontario, growth has been concentrated in hospitals (8.6% growth) and community care (11.9%). There was a small reduction in RNs in LTC. Notably, compared with RPNs, more RNs are employed full time (65.8% in Ontario, 58% Canada-wide).

Comments

Huge cuts in public sector wages predicted

The Ontario Financial Accountability Office (FAO) says that, with inflation, real wages in the public sector will decline 11.3% over the three year period 2021/2 - 2023/4 . This would radically deepen the trend towards lower wages during the last ten years. The FAO reports that since 2011, the average annual salary for the Ontario public sector employees (defined here as employees of schools, colleges, provincial government, provincial agencies, and hospitals) has increased by $10,385 -- or 1.6 per cent on average annually. This is the lowest increase of all the sectors and lower than inflation, which averaged 1.8 per cent per year. Over the ten years that would be about a 2% pay cut. The FAO reports that wage settlements were the lowest in the provincial public sector over the last decade: Hospital Wages Especially Challenged: The FAO predicts hospital wages will increase even less than in the public sector -- just ...

Are health care administrative expenses out of control in Ontario?

The Progressive Conservative government has justified its health restructuring plans with the claim that administrative expenses are much higher in Ontario than in Canada. When introducing the reforms, health minister Christine Elliott claimed , “Over the last five years, Ontario has spent 30% more than the Canadian average in administrative expenses on its health care system.” Elliott did not indicate her source of information. Presumably, however, the Progressive Conservatives are referring to the CIHI simplified and user friendly “ Your Health System ” graphs. Those graphs show “administrative expenses” in Ontario at 5.8% in Ontario while it is 4.5% in Canada. This CIHI measure is actually fairly narrowly defined. It is the percentage of “the legal entity’s” total expenses associated with the administrative, finance, human resources and communications functional centres. However “the legal entity” used for this estimate is [1] only...

Too many public sector workers in Ontario?

Opponents of public services often try to portray the public sector as having grown disproportionately. In fact, since 1976, the number of public sector employees has not quite kept pace with the population. In 1976, the number of public sector employees in Ontario as reported by Statistics Canada averaged 830,800. By 2012, the number had increased to 1,330,700 -- a 60.2% increase. That sounds like significant growth -- true. But the population has increased from 8,413,779 in 1976 to 13,505,900 in 2012, a 60.5% increase. In other words, population growth has run slightly ahead of the growth in public sector employment. In 1976, close to 10% of the population worked in the public sector. It stayed pretty much this way until the Mike Harris government came to power when it dipped below 9%. It returned close to the historical range in the last six years or so, declining in 2012 to below the 1976 averag...

Defend Public Healthcare

Search This Blog