Tuesday April 4, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated April 5, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
NOTE: The tentative agreement will be voted on by members of BCNU starting April 20, 2023
Strident new directions for recruiting and retaining nurses in BC were announced today by Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
This is Public Health Week, providing an opportunity for bringing this forward even though final negotiations with the BC Nurses Union (BCNU) are not yet complete; BCNU members may vote starting April 20.
“Together, the Province, the BC Nurses’ Union and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) have achieved a new staffing model and more supports for nurses to strengthen B.C.’s health-care system and patient care,” is how the news release put it today.
Best place to work as a nurse:
“It’s the first of its kind in North America,” said Premier Eby today about the investment and direction for public health-care. He and Minister Dix said it will make BC the best place to work in North America.
“From our perspective this is urgent work,” said Minister Dix, noting how hospitals are open 24/7 every day of the year and how the system has been under-staffed in recent years. “These are our nurses and employees and they deserve to be safe in the workplace,” said Dix. He added that this “has been an exceptionally challenging time in health-care”, referring to the COVID pandemic, the opioid overdose crisis, the heat dome, and other pressures on nurses over the past few years.
“A strong permanent workforce where nurses have a higher quality of life,” said Dix about the goals aimed for with today’s announcement.
Four areas of focus:
There will be $108.6 million in annualized ongoing funding to support:
- Creation of new full-time permanent clinical mentorship positions to support graduate nurses, Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs), and nurses changing jobs (150 FTE) and new premiums for preceptorship of student nurses. [$33 million]
- Additional point of care nursing support to expand “elbow-to-elbow” supports for point of care nurses (LPN, RN, RPH). [$25 million]
- Earn and Learn – expansion of the Employed Student Nurse Program will allow additional nursing students to take part-time positions in the health system while attending school. [$20 million]
- Retention Incentive – funding will support the development of a retention premium based on years of service for nurses in the later stages of their careers. [$30.6 million]
The goal of the new three-year strategy is to ultimately improving patient care by bolstering the workplace experience and career satisfaction for registered nurses (RNs), licenced practical nurses (LPNs) and nurse practitioners (NPs).
There will be goals to add nursing hours, said Health Minister Dix. He emphasized that will be actual hours, not FTE equivalents.
New nurses-to-patient ratios:
Funding for the new nurse-to-patient ratio is shown as:
- 2023/24 – $200 million (net new)
- 2024/25 – $250 million (net new)
- 2025/26 – $300 million (net new)
This builds on 2022 expenditures of $4.5 billion (total compensation costs for nurses under the NBA).
Meeting new nursing-to-patient ratios will be quantifiable first in the hospital system, then beyond that in the community nursing employment sector as well as long-term care. Some of the stats include these ratios (nurses to patients): ventilated acute care 1:1, ventilated & high acuity: 1:2, specialized: 1:3, palliative 1:4, rehab 1:5. Standards will also be adopted for maternity.
Investing in nurses:
Nursing pay is a significant chunk of the provincial budget, currently about $4.5 billion for 51,000 members.
The new investments in nursing build on a human resources strategy to improve the nursing workplace — both salaries and some capital investments in space expansion, providing better hours, incentives for nurses will longer experience to stay on even longer, paying nursing students for part-time work, providing mentorship on the job, enhancing opportunities for career laddering (advancement) including tuition fees being covered, and more.
Staff safety and retention are key goals. A nursing support fund will include mental health support coverage when existing plans run their limit, additional coverage around Employment Insurance (EI), long-term disability, and helping with student hardship.
This is an unsurpassed and historical set of investments being billed as an important moment in the history of the public health care system.
Much of the modelling for these new initiatives was gleaned from what is being done in Australia (apparently the systems are similar, though Australia has a 3-shift system whereas BC will still work with a 2-shift system) as well as California.
A recruitment campaign will be national and international, hoping to bring nurses to BC for the benefit of patients but also for their own lifestyle enjoyment in this beautiful part of the world.
BC Nursing Union (BCNU) president Aman Grewal noted today that when nurses spend more time with patients that patient care is improved.
===== GOVERNMENT LINKS:
Learn more about the tentative agreement under the Shared Recovery Mandate
Government of BC health human resource strategy
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===== ABOUT THE WRITER & ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Mary P Brooke is the editor and publisher of Island Social Trends as published daily at islandsocialtrends.ca.
She has been covering politics, business, education and communities through a socioeconomic lens since 2008 on south Vancouver Island (previously as West Shore Voice News, and before that both Sooke Voice News and MapleLine Magazine).
Ms Brooke followed and wrote extensively about the COVID pandemic during 2020-2022.
Among other qualifications, Ms Brooke holds a health sciences B.Sc.
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