By Jack Clark

Nurses

Staff shortage driving BC Nurses to the breaking point

Jul 12, 2022 | 4:57 PM

PRINCE GEORGE- Nurses say a staffing shortage continues to be a critical issue in British Columbia. This was a message they relayed to a group of Premiers meeting in Victoria this week.

“My key message to them would be to stop the bleeding,” says the President of the BC Nurses Union (BCNU), Aman Grewal. “We have senior nurses that are leaving the system, and we need them to be in the system so that they can provide care to the patients and mentor our new grads.”

While the issue is prominent throughout BC, the BCNU says the staff shortage is happening across the country.

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“Listening to the Presidents from the other unions throughout Canada, it is a Canadian-wide issue,” said Grewal.

According to Grewal, nurses work longer hours, which causes stress, but the harassment and abuse they face during their shifts push them to the breaking point. Local MLA, Shirley Bond, has heard it’s no different in Prince George.

“The stories we hear about how overtired they are and how they are reaching the point of burnout, there are concerns about their ability to continue to serve northern British Columbians the way that they have. It’s so devastating to hear,” said Bond. “We need to see the government step up and take action to address the concerns nurses have been expressing.”

The opposition has been calling for a health human resource strategy that would help better understand where medical funding is going.

“We need to look at the gaps and what it’s going to take to fill the shortages now and into the future,” said Bond.

One of the many things the BCNU is looking for in the proposed strategy is more seats in nursing schools to try and eliminate this problem in the near future.