This morning’s Toronto Star paints a picture of Southlake Hospital in turmoil.  

The report describes a “staffing crisis” where intensive care nurses plan to leave 

“if the hospital implements a team-based nursing model on a permanent basis”.

The nurses say the team-based model is putting patients at risk. (Photo right: nurses with a copy of their letter of 12 July 2021 to the hospital board of directors)

Southlake Foundation's Annual Report, made available on-line yesterday, makes no mention of the staffing dispute triggered by the introduction of team-based nursing which

“involves partnering critical care nurses with non-critical care staff to treat critically ill patients.”

Instead it says Southlake has redesigned processes and redeployed staff across the organisation.

The impression is given that Southlake is one big happy family. But, despite appearances, it looks to be a deeply divided organisation.

Some nurses may have refused to go along with the reorganisation. There have been nine involuntary lay-offs of Registered Nurses since September last year.

The Star’s reporting tells us that Ontario went into the pandemic with the worst registered nurse-to-population ratio in the country. In Ontario in 2018 there were 669 registered nurses per 100,000 people. Across the rest of Canada there were 828 registered nurses per 100,000 people.

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From Southlake Foundation's 2020-21 Annual Report:

Update on 24 July 2020: From Newmarket Today: Shocked and Terrified