The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) has told the media that London Health Sciences Centre fired chief nursing officer Vanessa Burkoski, RN, MScN, NP, DHA, because of her role as president of RNAO, which had recently issued a report criticizing denursification at the province’s hospitals. The June 2016 article "An Ontario nursing group contends Vanessa Burkoski was fired to silence her about changes affecting patient safety,” includes an account by Dr. Burkoski in which the large hospital's CEO Murray Glendining repeatedly offered her a cash settlement to resign quietly, which she declined to do. 

In the article, RNAO chief executive Doris Grinspun reportedly says that the “boss of London’s largest hospital has sacked his chief nurse to stop her from speaking out against changes that put patients across Ontario in harm’s  way.” The article explains that according to Grinspun, Glendining fired Burkoski not for her work at the hospital, “where she received stellar reviews,” but because she was the RNAO president in May 2016 when it “produced a report that exposed how Ontario hospitals had harmed patients by replacing registered nurses with cheaper and less educated health care workers.” Grinspun says that other Ontario hospital leaders have tried to silence chief nurses who raised this kind of concern, and “patients suffer the consequences because chief nurses are the safety valves.”

The Windsor Star quotes Burkoski as saying that no other RNAO President has ever been fired for serving in that role in its 90-year history. “As CNEs (chief nurse executives) we can’t become shrinking violets when our bosses intimidate us or threaten us, because it’s dangerous for patient care and patient outcomes,” she reportedly said. 

Please encourage Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins to investigate this apparent termination and its effect on patient safety.