Community Care Access Centre Care Coordinators May be Forced to Strike

TORONTO, Jan. 16, 2015 /CNW/ - Ontarians in 10 communities may find barriers to access to home care and admission to long-term care homes later this month as the province's care coordinators including Registered Nurses and Health Team members at 10 Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) may be forced to strike.

Talks between the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), the union representing these essential health care providers, and the Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) are headed to final mediation talks this week to avert a strike. The Ontario Labour Relations Board has issued ONA the no-board report which provides a legal strike date of January 30, 2015. The key outstanding issues include ensuring these health care professionals have wage improvements equal to their hospital counterparts – the established pattern in this sector – as well as to ensure they are able to meet their professional standards. 

The care coordinators at 10 of the province's 14 CCACs have been without a contract since March 31, 2014.

"Our dedicated care coordinators are vital to assessing their patients and ensuring they fully determine their needs for care and support at home or in the community," said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "Care coordinators have skills as registered nurses, social workers, occupational or physiotherapists to look at individual circumstances of patients and develop individual care plans to meet the needs of their patients.

"It's a very unpalatable thought for RNs and other highly skilled healthcare workers to be forced to withdraw their services," she noted. "Our members would like to continue to be there for their patients as they are discharged from hospital to their homes, or are waiting to be placed in long-term care. They truly advocate for their patients."

Throughout the province, care coordination teams specialize in ensuring seniors are able to stay safely in their homes; patients can choose to die at home with dignity; support schools and help pediatric patients at home while developing care plans for those who may need services. They also act as health care system navigators, helping patients access services in the province's complex healthcare system.

Affected communities include those in the catchment area of the North West LHIN, North East LHIN, North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN, South East LHIN, South West LHIN, Erie-St. Clair LHIN, Central East LHIN, Central LHIN, Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN and Waterloo-Wellington LHIN.

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is the union representing 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Sheree Bond, [phone], ext.2430; cell: [phone]; [email protected]; Ruth Featherstone, [phone], ext. 2267; [email protected]