Minimum Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and the 2024 Provincial Election

For too long, nurses in BC have struggled to provide patient care amid a severe staffing shortage that’s led to the closure of emergency rooms, long wait times for treatment and limited access to high-quality health services.

But there is new hope on the horizon, with a plan.

A historic agreement reached between BC’s nurses and the provincial government has put this province on track to be the first in the country to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios - a nurse-driven policy solution proven to address the staffing crisis, improve patient care, and promote safe and healthy workplaces required to retain the nurses we have now, return those who have left and recruit the new generation of nurses the province desperately needs

Ratios are also shown to improve patient outcomes by reducing complications caused by staffing shortages, such as infections, and surgical delays. Studies show that for every additional patient added to a nurse’s workload, the risk of mortality increases by 12 to 16 percent.

Our optimism is inspired by the success of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in other health-care systems around the world. In Sacramento, California, nursing vacancies decreased by 69 percent within four years of ratios coming into effect. In fact, hospitals across California saw turnover and vacancy rates fall below five percent, well below the national average. Meanwhile, in Victoria, Australia, the number of employed nurses grew by more than 24 percent, with over 7,000 inactive nurses returning to the workforce after the implementation of minimum nurse-patient ratios in that state.

Numbers like these mean the sooner BC’s health-care system can be stabilized with nurse staffing ratios the sooner the province can end the use of costly nursing agencies that hurt the team-based culture necessary to support a healthy work environment and optimal patient outcomes.

Unfortunately, health authorities continue to spend millions of dollars on for-profit recruiters to bring nurses to the bedside and fill the staffing gap.

This election, it is vitally important that voters support the important progress that has been made in this province to roll out nursing ratios across every health sector over the next four years, with a goal of hiring more than 8,000 nurses. The investment is significant with the government committing $300 million to invest in the nursing workforce, including $100 million to support nurse retention strategies and up to $30,000 in recruitment incentives in areas with the highest need.

The BC Nurses’ Union believes that a strong public health-care system that provides high-quality care to everyone when they need it must be a key priority in this election. Proposals that would expand the role of private, for-profit health care in BC would take us in the opposite direction and every, single dollar corporations make from our health-care system is a dollar taken away from the patient in need of care.

As we prepare to head to the polls, we must prioritize solutions that ensure the health-care system can provide high-quality care to everyone when they need it - and nurse-to-patient ratios are a step in that direction.

This election, vote like your health depends on it. Because it does.

Adriane Gear, President, BC Nurses’ Union