VANCOUVER, BC: The Province and BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) determined minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for six health-care settings in acute care facilities. Examples include most adult medical and surgical units, where the ratio will be one nurse to every four patients, and high-acuity units where it will be one nurse to two patients.
The province says these new ratios are the first of their kind in Canada and anchor the delivery of patient care to a simple, clear formula that transparently indicates nurse staffing requirements throughout the province.
Effective immediately, the Ministry of Health and BCNU will work with health authorities to implement a policy directive issued in support of this first phase to establish these minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. Next, the minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in remaining hospital settings and non-hospital settings, such as long-term care and health authority community settings, will be determined. Another update about the remaining ratios will occur by June 2024.
This progress is supported by a $237-million investment to help retain the nurses B.C. has now, return nurses back to the bedside and recruit the nurses B.C. needs for the future.
Investing in the retention and recruitment of nurses is part of B.C.’s Health Human Resources Strategy. The strategy advances 70 actions to retain, recruit and train health-care workers in B.C. while supporting innovative health system redesign and optimization.
