THE BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) on Wednesday congratulated Premier David Eby on his government’s re-election and said it looks forward to continuing work on improving health care for patients and nurses with the implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.
“We have been working with government on a number of nurse-driven solutions, including our 2023 agreement to establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in all care settings in BC, and we’re ready to continue that work following the BC NDP’s re-election,” said BCNU President Adriane Gear. “Evidence shows minimum nurse-to-patient ratios will bring about big improvements to nurses’ working conditions and, most importantly, to the quality of health care we are able to provide to our patients.”
She said that BC’s health-care system continues to face serious challenges, including a systemic nurse staffing shortage that has led to temporary service disruptions, including emergency room closures. In addition to staffing ratios, the union sees hope in other solutions that are already underway, including retention and recruitment incentives like the GoHealth Travel Nurse program, which is aimed at ending the reliance on expensive for-profit staffing agencies.
However, Gear said there is much more work that needs to be done.
“We’ve seen the NDP government start to address the serious challenges facing our health-care system, but emergency room closures and nurse staffing shortages are still impacting British Columbians every day,” she said. “More must be done, and nurses will continue pushing the government and health employers for solutions that give everyone access to high-quality care when they need it.”
Throughout the election campaign, nurses across BC asked candidates to sign a pledge to support the implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. Of the 27 elected candidates who signed, 22 are from the BC NDP, three are from the BC Conservatives and two are from the BC Greens. BC NDP Leader David Eby and BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau both signed the pledge, and Eby also sent a letter to BCNU committing all his party’s candidates to it.
“We’re calling on all of these MLAs to get on board with addressing the challenges in our health-care system,” said Gear. “We will keep advocating on our key priorities, including further action on Indigenous-specific anti-racism, inclusion of diversity, equity and inclusion principles in all decision-making, reining in public spending on private agency nursing, properly staffing long-term care, investing in mental health and substance use care and addressing the deadly toxic drug crisis.”
She added: “Nurses will continue working with all parties to ensure everyone has access to the high-quality health care we all deserve.”
