Frustrated and exhausted, Sudbury nurse resigns over mounting workload

Wendy McNeil, a nurse at Health Sciences North, has resigned because she says nurses are overloaded, being stretched too thin and as a result, patients are being put at risk. (Ian Campbell/CTV News)

Sudbury — Wendy McNeil has made a career of caring for some of Canada's most critically ill for the past 40 years, but she's had enough.

McNeil, a registered nurse, said she reached her breaking point Dec. 12. She resigned her position at Health Sciences North over what she says has become a critical situation in the healthcare sector.

In her open letter on Facebook, she said nurses are overloaded and exhausted.

"Under the current circumstances in our healthcare system and at this hospital, I feel I am unable to meet the bare minimum standards of safe, timely and competent provision of care for my patients, placing both the public and myself at risk," she wrote.

She later told CTV News her decision was a long time coming.

"I could see myself -- as well as my colleagues -- feel like they were drowning," McNeil said, adding they felt "they didn't have a voice."

McNeil's letter said that keeping up with her responsibilities in a timely manner – which include reviewing medication and procedure/lab orders and monitoring patients requiring high-risk medication – was impossible.

She said shortcuts are being taken because nurses also have to deal with a myriad of other duties, including answering phone calls, cleaning, feeding and addressing basic hygiene of the critically ill, porter duties, physiotherapy and navigating complex social work issues.

While she's at the end of her career, McNeil worries for younger nurses who are in distress and aren't being heard. An already difficult situation was made much worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

"This pandemic was just the crack that made the big crevasse," she said. "Healthcare has been an ongoing issue for a long, long time."

McNeil, who also did stints working in Timmins and in Calgary, said she's never seen the situation as bad as it is now. Nurses are unable to deliver the minimum standard of care to the point that patient safety is a concern.

As nurses, McNeil said it's their responsibility to advocate for those who don't have a voice.

"The people that are struggling in our communities, we have to advocate for them sometimes -- and we made that oath to advocate for them," she said.

The 60-year-old grandmother said she's been overwhelmed by the positive response she's gotten from her Facebook post. She's had nurses across Canada sharing the letter and thanking her for her courage.

Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) president Vicki McKenna said what McNeil experienced in Sudbury is indicative of a province-wide issue.

"The letter that I read from this nurse could have been a letter written by so many nurses," said McKenna.

"What she described is the sentiment and feelings of many, many nurses in this province and what they're feeling right now and how difficult it is for them."

McKenna, a registered nurse herself, said it's a shame to lose a highly skilled, educated nurse with years of experience.

The ONA said Ontario's healthcare system is short 20 to 25 per cent of the nurses it requires and has the lowest per-capita ratio of nurses in the country.

"It's a shame because she has left the system so disheartened after a long career," McKenna said.

"It's very clear in reading her words, that this was well thought out, it wasn't a snap judgment -- it had been a long time coming. And this is what I'm hearing from other nurses."

She said the responsibility squarely lies with the government, which needs to act now to save the healthcare system.

She said wage restraint legislation, otherwise known as Bill 124, certainly hasn't helped with morale for those still employed.

"There are policies such as that legislation where nurses have felt so disrespected by, legislation that does not acknowledge the work that they do, the care work that they provide Ontarians," McKenna said.

Nurses feel disrespected 

"Nurses that have never spoken up in their entire careers … are disgusted by what has happened to them and they feel disrespected," she said. "It's really true that without nurses, the system will fail and we cannot afford to lose them."

The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) has been also working to address nursing shortages. They've sent an open letter to Premier Doug Ford calling on the government to address the nursing crisis.

Nursing crisis risks patient safety and health of Ontarians: Premier Ford must #RepealBill124 to prevent health-system collapse | RNAO.ca

CEO Doris Grinspun said she completely agrees with McNeil's letter. She said statistics as far back as 2005 showed nurses were overworked.

"It's a story of disregard of nurses and nursing as a profession that repeats and repeats," Grinspun said.

"I am actually very thankful to our colleague that put it in writing that this begging, pleading for governments, lawyers, the Ontario Hospital Association, she doesn't mention but I will, to actually not look to the side."

And while the problem has been building for many years, she said the pandemic has helped shine a light on RN understaffing and well-being, with countless nurses working around the clock to save COVID-19 patients.

"Nurses are leaving to work in agencies where they get three or four times the money or they are going to the United States, which also has a shortage and they are getting $100 an hour," said Grinspun.

"Many nurses have spoken publicly … People don't act until it touches them in particular and the reality is it will touch many people with Omicron."

Everyone needs to speak out

Grinspun said it's incumbent on everyone to speak out about the situation, including hospital board members.

A recent RNAO work and well-being survey found 90 per cent of respondents experienced at least moderate stress, with mid-career nurses and nurse practitioners reporting the highest levels.

The RNAO said the province and employers must boost nursing numbers by taking steps such as repealing Bill 124, funding school enrolments and supporting retention and recruitment particularly when it comes to training.

Also needed is a program to attract nurses back to the workforce, supporting nurses with a graduate guarantee program and establishing a task force to make recommendations.

In the meantime, McNeill is training to work as a nurse elsewhere. She said she has to remain optimistic about the future and that change will come.

"I'm always positive, I feel like if everyone comes together change can happen," she said. "Everybody needs to be a part of it, not just one person, we all need to be a part of it for change."

CTV News reached out to both the Ministry of Health and Health Sciences North (McNeill's former employer) for comment but have not received a response.