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1 in 3 B.C. health-care workers say they want to quit in next 2 years

Click to play video: 'B.C. nurses express fatigue, stress and now illness after 22 months of pandemic'
B.C. nurses express fatigue, stress and now illness after 22 months of pandemic
Fatigue, stress and now illness are catching up with B.C.'s nurses. Just when hospitalizations due to COVID-19 hit all-time highs --growing numbers of people who work in the health care system are booking off sick. The solution, nurses say, is not easy. Here's Andrea Macpherson. – Jan 14, 2022

An unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic has driven health-care workers to the point of burnout with one-third of workers expecting to leave the profession in the next two years.

The findings are part of a telephone survey done of more than 800 members of the Hospital Employees’ Union.

Three-quarters of those polled experienced pandemic-related burnout, and one in three said they do not believe there are adequate mental health supports in the workplace.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said their workloads have gotten worse over the last two years, and one-quarter of respondents reported that their employer rarely or never backfills positions left vacant by illness or vacation.

“There’s no question that many health-care workers are at the breaking point, exhausted by all they’ve been through,” said HEU secretary-business manager Meena Brisard.

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“We should all be very concerned about what that means for our health-care system going forward.”

The strain on the health-care system has been well-documented during the pandemic.

The BCHEU has reported multiple instances during the pandemic where hospital and long-term care staff were required to work in areas they were unfamiliar with due to staffing shortages.

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The BCHEU is one of multiple unions currently negotiating a new contract with the provincial government. The current agreement expires March 31, 2022.

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The random phone survey of 802 health-care workers took place between Feb. 22 and March 2 and is accurate to within +/- 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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It was carried out by Viewpoints Research under commission by the HEU.

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The internal survey also found health-care workers are having a tough time keeping up with rising costs, with more than a third saying they are less financially secure than two years ago.

More than a quarter of respondents said they are concerned that their housing is currently at risk.

Click to play video: 'COVID-19: Sick health care workers strain B.C. hospital system'
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“Health-care workers have carried the weight of this pandemic on their shoulders for all of us,” Brisard said.

“Now is the time to recognize these workers with a wage and compensation package that puts them ahead and not behind.”

The survey sample represents health-care workers employed in hospitals, care homes, health authority corporate offices and warehouses and other settings.

All those polled are currently covered by the facilities collective agreement covering 58,000 health-care workers.

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