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Ministry of Health responds to CNO’s proposal
Actions will increase nurses in health care system
The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) protects the public by promoting safe nursing practice. This includes registering nurses, whether they are educated in Canada or internationally, who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice safely in Ontario.
On September 2, 2022, CNO received a letter from the Minister of Health, the Hon. Sylvia Jones. We thank the Health Minister for this correspondence, and are committed to working together on shared health system priorities to promote patient safety.
We are encouraged that the Minister acknowledged our advice about longer-term solutions, including addressing education gaps for internationally educated nurse (IEN) applicants. We look forward to working collaboratively with the Health Ministry and our partners in health care and academia.
CNO remains resolutely focused on our purpose, and is working on actions to support our response to the Minister of Health's directive. These include:
- making changes to Temporary Class registration and reinstatement requirements for retired nurses, which CNO's Council members will discuss later this month
- sharing data about applicants on www.cno.org, beginning in mid-September
- building on the success of existing programs and partnerships such as SPEP, which has already seen IEN registration increase 132% in 2022
