BCNU president worries about ‘decreasing’ staff at new patient care tower

KAMLOOPS — The president of the BC Nurses’ Union was in Kamloops on Thursday listening to frontline nurses at Royal Inland Hospital who say the 50 per cent staffing compliment is leading to major burnout.

Aman Grewal says the severe staffing shortage is dire and not getting any better.

It’s nothing new for RIH nurses, who for months now have become accustomed to working with half the number of staff they’re normally afforded. Some days, it’s been even below 50 per cent, creating dangerous conditions for both nurse and patient.

“Listening to the nurses, and one nurse in particular, an ICU nurse, was mentioning that their normal compliment is 15 nurses in their department on a shift and they’re down to eight,” said B.C. Nurses’ Union President Aman Grewal. “And if you’re taking care of ventilated patients, the normal staffing ratio is one nurse to one ventilated patient because that patient is not able to do anything for themselves.”

Grewal relayed nurses’ concerns with patient ratios of up to one to four in the intensive care unit.

The roundtable discussions in Kamloops come just four days before the new patient care tower opens on Monday (July 18) with the same staff concerns.

“The staffing is actually being decreased on those units,” noted Grewal. “The nurses are already working short, so they know they’re going to be working staff — just how short are they going to be because for some reason they think with this new tower, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ No, they will not come.”

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone added, “The government has not come to the table with a health human resource plan. They continue to gag nurses, ensure that nurses are under a gag order. There is no plan, despite what promising multiple times, to address the fact we still operating many days of the week with 50 per cent complement in the ER and the ICU and other wards in the existing hospital. So it’s hard to understand when [B.C. Health Minister] Adrian Dix and the NDP say we should be really excited about this new patient care tower.”

The BCNU says making the staffing shortage and overcrowding at RIH even worse are the emergency room closures in rural areas in the region.

“You’ve got Clearwater, Ashcroft, all these outlying communities that are having their ERs closed down for overnight or during the day, or for days, and all those people are now having to drive into Royal Inland,” said Grewal. “Royal Inland’s already shortstaffed, they’re overcapacity with patients.”

Other B.C. cities are facing critical staffing shortages as well, but Kamloops just happens to be one of the bigger tertiary hospitals in the province.

“There is definitely a lot of stress within the system, there’s a lot of stress within nursing. When you see 82 per cent of their members right now reporting mental health challenges and a lot comtemplating early retirements, it’s going to add even more stress to the system,” said Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar. “That’s why it’s incumbent on the government to start coming up with a more collaborative approach in terms of retention, in terms of attraction, in terms of training, workplace satisfaction.”

CFJC Today reached out Dix’s office and did not receive a comment on the story.