Ottawa area's healthcare staff dread work, consider quitting: Poll

A recent poll of local hospital staff in Ottawa and the Valley paints a dark picture of the healthcare profession and its future. (Dylan Dyson/ CTV News Ottawa)

A recent poll of local hospital staff in Ottawa and the Valley paints a dark picture of the healthcare profession and its future.

The poll -- done by Nanos Research for CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) – says in the national capital region, 59 percent of workers feel anxiety about their job, 54 percent dread going into work and 48 percent are considering leaving their job in the next year.

"We know that the two main issues driving staffing shortages are workloads and compensation," said Dave Verch, first vice-president of OCHU.

Those numbers are all higher than the provincial average found in the poll.

OCHU says healthcare staff in rural areas like the Ottawa Valley are more likely to experience this negativity around the profession compared to urban centres, due to factors such as having less doctors and fewer social programs, creating an over-reliance on public hospitals.

"Certainly Perth and Smiths Falls, that's been a local that's been affected by ER closures," said Verch.

"I know it's created a lot of dismay in the community and certainly those healthcare workers are feeling the pressure from that as well."

"Eighty-five per cent of Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley are saying that there's not enough staff to deliver high quality patient care," added Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer with OCHU.

The union anticipates the need to fill 60,000 positions over the next four years to meet Ontario's healthcare needs and is calling on the province to step up to meet the demand.

"We are calling for a $1.25-billion investment annually for the next four years on top of inflation to improve staffing levels, create more full time jobs and add capacity to our hospitals,"  Richer added.