Hundreds of nurses from municipalities across B.C. descended upon Vancouver on Wednesday, asking the province to live up to promises made in an April agreement.
The BC Nurses’ Union and the province agreed to a three-year deal that includes “record-setting compensation” for B.C. nurses and mandatory ratios, according to the union.
The new ratios will be one-to-one for critical care patients, one nurse for every two mental health patients, one-to-three for specialized care patients, and four-to-one for palliative care patients.
The union organized Wednesday’s rally to hold the government accountable for its promises and highlight ongoing staffing and workloads issues.
“The shortage has reached such dire levels that we regularly see temporary closures of emergency rooms in communities around B.C.,” said BCNU President Aman Grewal.
“Nurses are wanting the government to keep the promise for minimum nurse-to-patient ratios to keep the patients and citizens of B.C. safe.”
Emergency rooms across the province have been severely impacted, especially ERs in Northern B.C., Northern Vancouver Island and, more recently, at the Surrey Memorial Hospital.
“I have been saying it for more than a year and a half now — we are in a severe nursing staffing crisis,” Grewal said.
“The shortage has been years in the making.”
Back in April, during the agreement between the union and province, B.C. announced $750 million had been allocated to address the nurses’ staffing crisis.
On Wednesday, the union president said the province needs to start addressing the issues now, as health services have been impacted across B.C., sometimes leading to unsafe care for patients.
“We need those ratios. We need them to recruit, retain and return nurses who have left the profession. We have internationally-trained (nurses), who are wanting to work; they are here in B.C. but cannot work as they are delayed in the credentialing and licensing process.”
“We need those nurses in the system now. We were told the process would be expedited. We want to see results,” Grewal continued.
Around 500 nurses gathered outside the Hyatt Regency Vancouver and marched down Georgia Street towards Burrard Street, down to the waterfront.