BC Budget 2017 May Have Surplus But Nursing Deficit Remains

As gridlocked emergency rooms continue to be the new norm in hospitals around the province, and nine out of ten BC care homes remain under-staffed, the BC Nurses' Union (BCNU) says this year's budget fails to address serious resource shortages that plague BC's health care system.

President Gayle Duteil says she's disappointed to see that the government continues to ignore glaring inefficiencies when it comes to seniors' care and staffing issues. "We just saw a holiday season where emergency rooms around the province struggled to manage patient volumes in hospitals already dealing with chronic overcapacity," says Duteil. "Kamloops, Kelowna, Victoria all broke records. As a result, nurses are working 16-hour shifts and are burning out. The government should be providing resources so that we can get health care workers working where they are desperately needed."

BCNU is pleased to hear the government announce the reduction of premiums for two-million British Columbians, with a long-term plan to phase out MSP premiums entirely.

"We know there will be a large savings for health authorities if MSP premiums are phased out. We hope that the savings will be redirected to providing safe patient care," says Duteil. "Of course, we are anxious to sit down with health authorities and government to figure out where these significant savings are going to be allocated."

Duteil says besides not providing resources to alleviate the pressure in ERs and other specialty nursing areas, the budget doesn't meet the critical need for investments in seniors' care. "What we saw in BC Seniors' Advocate Isobel Mackenzie's latest report, was that there's been a drop in home support services even as the population increases. In addition, residential care facilities are severely understaffed and failing to provide the minimum direct care hours per day."

Duteil adds that the province-wide opioid crisis is directly impacting health care workers emotionally and physically and is pleased to see that there is some funding in the budget to manage the crisis. "Immediate attention needs to be paid to more harm reduction, publicly-provided detox and rehabilitation services, and better backup and relief for health care workers," says Duteil. "I am happy to see that there are resources being directed to youth mental health services. This is certainly something that is overdue."