2017 Provincial General Election

BC Nurses Say: Safe Care for All

On May 9 vote for a candidate who shares nurses' commitment to safe care

Safe care for nurses and their patients

Inadequate staffing puts patients at risk. BC needs to hire, educate and retain enough nurses to provide safe, quality patient care everywhere.

BC urgently needs to adopt a culture of safety that ensures violence-free health care workplaces, with properly trained security (24/7) that’s hands-on when needed.

Safe care for seniors to age with dignity

Vulnerable seniors deserve safe, quality care that enables them to age with dignity while living at home. And, they all deserve residential care staffed to provide a minimum of 3.36 hours of direct care daily, which 90% of care homes today do not.

Safe care that’s accessible and affordable

MSP premiums have doubled in just 15 years, placing a huge burden on many BC families. Replacing this regressive health tax with funding from general revenues would make care more affordable and accessible.

Safe care for people with mental health issues

Health care services for the one-in-five struggling with mental health issues are scarce to non-existent, ultimately consigning many to jail or life on the street. Expanded, accessible mental health care should be a top priority.

Safe care for those disadvantaged by poverty

Over 163,000 BC children live in impoverished conditions (2016). Action is needed to raise the minimum wage, provide affordable housing and childcare, and improve income and social supports for vulnerable citizens.

Safe care on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis

Heroic efforts by first responders and frontline nurses have saved thousands from overdoses. 

But BC still needs:

• Better backup and relief for frontline nurses
• More harm reduction capacity
• Public detox and rehabilitation services.

BC Nurses Say: Help Keep us Safe at Work, So We Can Provide Safe, Quality Care for All

We're calling on the next provincial government to:

• Staff our hospitals, home and community care services with enough licensed and specialty-educated nurses to deliver safe, quality care.
• Recognize that violence is not part of the job and commit to keep nurses safe by providing properly trained security 24/7 and working towards a violence-free workplace.
• Staff residential care so everyone receives the minimum 3.36 direct-care hours per day, and vulnerable seniors aren't over-medicated.
• Reduce poverty and improve the social determinants of health by mandating $10-a-day provincial childcare and improved income supports for the most vulnerable members of society.
• Provide more harm reduction capacity, public detox and rehabilitation services, and better backup and relief for frontline nurses to address the fentanyl crisis.
• Improve mental health care services to assist people as needed in their own communities.
• Eliminate MSP premiums that place an undue burden on many BC families and instead provide funding from general revenues.

Authorized by the BC Nurses' Union, registered sponsor under the Election Act, 604-433-2268