Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

ACTIVATION CARE

Nursing staff vacancy rates improve at RIH, prompting end of Activation Team program

Jan 17, 2025 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Short staffing is a common issue plaguing hospitals across Canada, but some progress has been made in reducing the vacancy rates at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

Two years ago, the hospital was operating at a 28 per cent vacancy rate for nursing staff. But at the start of 2025, Royal Inland says it has reduced that gap to 16 per cent and the increase in staffing stability has resulted in the hospital choosing to end the patient Activation Team program.

It’s not perfect, but Royal Inland Hospital has made a sizable dent in its nursing vacancy rate.

“Over the last two years, we’ve been able to hire 220 new nursing positions at Royal Inland Hospital,” explains Gerry Desilets, who is the Executive Director of Clinical Operations for the hospital.

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Because of that hiring windfall, the activation team has been de-activated. It was a pandemic-era program that had a team of care aides and other healthcare workers help get recovering patients up and moving.

“This was initiated back in 2022, when Royal Inland Hospital was really struggling with our staffing,” says Desilets. “We had about a 28 per cent vacancy rate with the registered nurses, 37 per cent with our licensed practical nurses, and at that time, we really were seeing issues with mobilizing patients. And we thought, this is an interesting way to get health care aides to support in a different way and have them try out a new role.”

With those higher staffing levels, the hospital says earlier this month it let the Activation Team know it was going to be moving activation care back into the duties of nurses and other healthcare workers who used to have it on their plates.

“With that change, we’re able to shift that back to the nurses providing that care. The care aides who were working with the Activation Team will continue to provide care, just as a baseline care aide. And there is a 13 per cent vacancy rate there currently, so there are jobs for them,” adds Desilets.

The program has been cut, but the hospital is adamant activation care is still being provided to patients and members on that team haven’t lost their employment at RIH. Desilets says staff were told on January 7.

“They’re not easy decisions, to change this. But knowing that there are positions for them to go into does make it easier, that there is a job for them,” he says.

Asked how it will ensure activation care continues without the designated team, Royal Inland says its patient care quality office will be monitoring the transition.

“If things are going in the wrong direction with patient care, we’ll obviously make changes again but we’re always monitoring that to make sure that people are getting the best care that they can at our site,” adds Desilets.