The Ministry of Long-Term Care has released its report on the recommendations that were outlined in Commissioner Eileen Gillese’s Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry Report, released in July 2019.

During the public inquiry, we learned more about what you expect from CNO — and we didn’t wait for Commissioner Gillese’s final report before taking action to improve. In 2018 and 2019, we strengthened and enhanced our processes, and we continue to do so.

In January 2020, we released Our Response to the Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry Recommendations. This document lists the 10 recommendations specific to CNO in the public inquiry report, and the actions we have taken to protect residents and patients from harm. These actions include educating nurses and other stakeholders about:

• The possibility that a nursing colleague is causing intentional harm to a patient

• A nurse’s professional accountabilities to protect their patients and to report any concern about a nursing colleague’s practice

• What, when and how to report any concerns they have about a nurse’s practice.

And we continue to improve. We developed a Code of Conduct that tells the public what to expect from nurses when receiving care. The Code was developed with comprehensive consultation with members of the public, nurses, educators, nursing associations, nursing unions and government.

We continue to partner with these groups to ensure everyone in Ontario benefits from safe, quality nursing care.

To allow the public to continue to watch our processes in action during COVID-19, CNO is now livestreaming both our discipline hearings and Council meetings.

Before COVID-19, all hearings and Council meetings were held at the CNO office in Toronto, and the public could attend. When our office closed on March 16 in the interest of public health and safety, in-person attendance became impossible. But our commitment to ensuring the public has access to the meetings has not changed.

We’ve started holding discipline hearings by videoconference and livestreaming them on YouTube. (Discipline hearings remain open to the public, unless there is a publication ban.) To learn more about watching a hearing, read our Discipline Hearings page. To attend a hearing, please contact the Hearings Administration Group.

In June, we successfully livestreamed our Council meeting for the first time. To learn how to watch our quarterly Council meetings — the next one is on September 17 — watch for the link on our Council Meetings page. You can also follow our live Council meetings on Twitter.