Our Annual Report: Strengthening the System
The second year of the pandemic continued to present extraordinary challenges to the health care system — including to CNO. We continued to address the needs of the system by supporting safe nursing care and registering more nurses more quickly. Now, you can read in our annual report, about all the ways we supported Ontario’s pandemic response in 2021.
Titled Strengthening the System, our annual report is part of our commitment to partnership and accountability. It details the work we did to protect and promote patient safety in 2021, including registering a record number of internationally educated nurses (IENs), putting our Strategic Plan into action and working with our valued partners in patient safety, such as Ontario Health, with whom we laid the groundwork for the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership (SPEP).
At the June Council meeting, Acting Executive Director and CEO Carol Timmings expressed pride at how much CNO accomplished in response to Ontario’s significant pandemic needs in 2021.
"CNO responded to the uncertainty with resilience," Timmings told Council members. “As the pandemic evolved, so did we.” She explained that CNO strengthened the health care system at a time when nurses, employers, applicants and educators had many questions — all while advancing our regulatory functions and enhancing processes along the way.
Timmings also highlighted the determination and resourcefulness of CNO staff members during a critical time. “We are so proud of all we accomplished in 2021. No matter the situation, CNO continues to be guided by our purpose so that we may continue to serve the public.”
Among our ongoing priorities, is improving the way we register new nurses who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice safely. Our focus on IENs, in particular, has resulted in a 46% increase in registration in 2021 compared to 2020. These new nurses are helping to support staffing capacity in Ontario’s health care system today. As well, CNO has registered an increasing number of IENs for five consecutive years, with 2021 marking a record high.
There are other initiatives to look forward to, as efforts we started in 2021 continue into the future. One example of this is SPEP, which we are now expanding to include other kinds of applicants. Also, we are integrating diversity, equity and inclusion into all our work, and developing a national database of nursing registrations across Canada.
Read about our 2021 activities — and more — in our annual report.
