Nurses Concerned About Safe Patient Care in Fraser Health

Serious concerns about safe patient care are being expressed by nurses following a move by Fraser Health to shift health care resources to the community. BCNU President Gayle Duteil says, "We have an overriding concern about safe patient care. Congestion is increasing in emergency rooms. Last week we saw a record high number of patients waiting for beds in wards. Some patients were waiting in the ER for upwards of four hours just to be triaged. That is not safe patient care."

BCNU understands that Fraser Health has made this move in an effort to alleviate congestion in hospitals.

In theory, BCNU supports the concept. However, closing beds has caused excessive waits for patients and backlogs in emergency rooms.

Additionally, BCNU is concerned there are not enough nurses working in community care to provide a level of care necessary for patients leaving hospitals and requiring care in their homes.

"There is an urgent need for Fraser Health to hire more nurses in community care," says Duteil. "For example, we know that dozens of palliative care patients who are in their homes in Fraser Health are still waiting for nursing care. We want to provide them with the care they need but there must be more nurses in place."

In the last three months, Fraser Health has hired more nurses than other health authorities and there is an agreement between Fraser Health and BCNU to hire 400 more nurses. The 400 is part of an overall agreement with the Ministry of Health to hire more than 1,600 nurses throughout BC. The addition of those nurses will help with the current situation, but BCNU is still awaiting decisions on how many nurses will be placed into community and long term care.

For more information contact Catherine Pope, BCNU Communications at cpope@bcnu.org or 604-313-7412.