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By Dylana Kneeshaw

HEALTHCARE STAFFING STRAIN

Royal Inland Hospital had improved staffing in 2023 – but shortages still linger

Jan 9, 2024 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Healthcare staffing shortages are a province-wide reality, and in Kamloops, Interior Health says the staffing strain at Royal Inland Hospital is better today than it was a year ago — but there are still jobs to fill.

“We’ve created 184 new positions in the hospital, and we’ve filled 108 new positions,” explains RIH Executive Director of Clinical Services Gerry Desilets. “We have 108 new direct care staff from December 2022 to December 2023 — so it increased. And that’s our direct care staff, so our care aides, license practical nursing and our registered nurses.”

According to figures provided by Interior Health, the vacancy rate for direct care positions at RIH as of 2023 year-end is 22.96 per cent. For direct care positions, RIH employs 1,115 positions, and of those jobs, there are 256 vacancies.

In a statement to CFJC, Meena Brisard, the BC Hospital Employees Union (HEU) Secretary Business Manager says there have been some investments made to attract and retain healthcare workers.

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“For example, the Health Career Access Program established in 2021 has boosted the number of care aides in hospitals like Royal Inland. And over 2023, the government also funded new relational security officers to safeguard healthcare workers and patients at Royal Inland and throughout the Interior.”

Brisard’s statement goes on to say, “But still more needs to be done to bring more people into the workforce to make Royal Inland and the rest of our healthcare system sustainable and ensure that patients have quality and timely care when they need it.”

The overall vacancy rate at the hospital in Kamloops as of the end of 2023 is 15.75 per cent. RIH employs 2,324 positions not including casual and agency staff, and of those, there are currently 366 vacancies.

“Our emergency department, our intensive care unit, and our operating room is where we’re currently seeing our biggest vacancies in the hospital,” notes Desilets.

Desilets says there are limitations with what sort of hiring incentives — like signing bonuses — Interior Health can use to get people to Royal Inland.

“It’s a bit out of our hands in what we can do with signing bonuses. That’s really through the Ministry of Health, and how do we support that to make sure there’s nurses for all of our sites, and not just the big tertiary sites?”

Doctor staffing levels fluctuate, but IH says there has been progress in new hires for the city.

“In Kamloops, with Health Match BC and our Divisions of Family Practice, we’ve hired 17 physicians in 2023 for Kamloops,” says Desilets. “Fourteen of those (are) directly for Royal Inland Hospital and we have six new physicians signed on for 2024.”

Short staffing has also impacted lab techs, imaging and diagnostics technicians who keep the hospital running smoothly. When those departments don’t have enough people to keep up with the demand, other departments like the ER are subsequently impacted by wait times for diagnostic imaging or other key information nurses or physicians require for patient care.

Health Sciences Association of BC President Kane Tse says the organization is working with the province to try to create better incentives for people coming into the profession and strategies to keep the existing staff.

“We’re also looking at opportunities to increase the training that can be available for new staff,” notes Tse, “as well as making it really attractive for our current staff to stay in their positions, in terms of retention. And of course that means pay increases and looking at addressing the housing crisis that we’re seeing across the province.”

Better work-life balance is a high priority for the BC Nurses Union and part of that comes when people don’t have to regularly take overtime shifts or cover potential gaps.

Staffing shortages are a chronic issue around the province, and according to the BC Nurses Union President Adriane Gear, burnout is a serious result of that.

“Nurses are constantly called in to shifts,” said Gear. “They know if they don’t go that their colleagues are working short and it’s unsafe for patients. What that means is nurses are working copious amount of overtime just to keep the system going. And that’s just not sustainable.”

However, Gear says planning is underway to make B.C. the first province in Canada to implement minimum nurse-patient ratios.

“We do feel that there is some hope — certainly with the Ministry of Health on the implementation of ratios. We believe that once the ratios are set and we start working toward implementation, that nurses who have left the profession might return,” says Gear.

There’s still a ways to go, but staff retention rates did improve in Kamloops. The turnover rate at the hospital in 2023 was 4.7 per cent, which is lower than the organization-wide turnover rate for Interior Health, at around 8 per cent.

“Talking to the staff, there’s an overall more positive feel in the building and I think that goes a long way to retention and recruitment,” adds Desilets.