Ontario boasts some of the finest health care professionals anywhere.

But the unfortunate reality is that, despite their skills and training, they have not always been utilized to the utmost of their ability… until now.

The McGuinty government has announced new legislation that will give nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists and other medical professionals the freedom to provide a wider range of health services and work to their full ability based on their skills and training.

For patients, this will mean better access to health care, and more choices in who provides it.

Under the proposed legislation, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dietitians, midwives and medical radiation technologists will be allowed to perform more services and work to their potential.

The new legislation will also change the rules for administering, prescribing, dispensing, selling and using drugs in practice for chiropodists and podiatrists, dental hygienists, dentists, midwives, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists and respiratory therapists.

It will remove restrictions on X-rays that can be ordered by nurse practitioners, and enable physiotherapists to order X-rays for specific purposes.

The new legislation would also improve patient safety and strengthen the health care system by requiring health colleges to work together to develop common standards of knowledge, skill and judgment in areas where their professions share similar services.

It will make team based care a key component of health college quality assurance programs, which ensure the ongoing competence of registered health professionals.

It will require all regulated health professionals to have professional liability insurance.

And it will create a process to ensure new drug prescribing powers are used in the safest possible manner.

So what does this mean for Ontarians? This means that instead of making two visits, one to the doctor and another to the pharmacist, to refill your prescription, now you’ll only have to make one stop: to see the pharmacist.

It means that instead of waiting in the ER for someone to set a fracture, now a nurse practitioner will be able to do that for you.

It means that your physiotherapist can now order an X-ray to better examine the pain in your knee.

These are just some examples of the way we are building a smarter healthcare system for Ontario, where no one’s talents and training goes to waste. This new legislation will make it visits to healthcare professionals easier for patients, it will lower our wait times, and it will make for more efficient use of taxpayers’ dollars.

By using the human resources we have, we can provide Ontarians with the health care they need safely, quickly and in more places.

For more information on what your government is doing to improve healthcare in Ontario, contact my constituency office at

P.O. Box 398

#99 Lakeshore Road

New Liskeard, Ontario

P0J 1P0

1-705-647-5995 or toll free 1-888-701-1105

#29 Duncan Avenue South

Kirkland Lake, Ontario

P2N 1X5

1-705-567-4208 or toll free 1-800-461-2186