B.C. to become 1st province to adopt nurse-to-patient ratio

British Columbia will become the first Canadian province to adopt a nurse-to-patient ratio as part of its plan to improve workload standards in public health.

The move is a key plank in the tentative contract reached between the province and the Nurses Bargaining Association last week.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says setting a nurse-to-patient ratio is "the leading international practice'' for retaining nurses and delivering quality health care.

Lead negotiator and B.C. Nurses' Union interim CEO Jim Gould said B.C.'s model will be similar to one used in Australia. It will establish a minimum number of nurses required for a care area.

"For instance, if you're in ICU and you're dealing with a ventilated patient, the number that we've reached there is one to one, meaning one patient to one nurse, which would provide the highest level of care," Gould said.

Once implemented, the model will be used by licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and registered nurses across all sectors of care, such as hospital, community and long-term care.

Dix says the government will also work with the B.C. Nurses' Union on a "national and international'' recruitment plan, backed by $750 million in new funding over the next three years.

Premier David Eby says the new nurse-to-patient model will transform the way people are cared for and allow nurses to do what they do best.

Nurses union president Aman Grewal says the change will not only help a strained and understaffed health-care system retain nurses but will also improve patient outcomes.

The 48,000 members of the B.C. Nurses' Union will start to vote on the new agreement on April 20.

The deal was reached on March 31 and includes "record-setting compensation'' in addition to the groundbreaking commitment to support mandatory nurse-patient ratios.

Dix called the labour crunch situation in B.C. "urgent'' and said the province is working actively on recruitment as well as retention of workers.

In January, Eby said the province will pay fees for international nurses, help finance former nurses who want to return to health care and spend $1.3 million to set up a new pathway for internationally trained nurses and assess applications faster.

The tentative deal will also include a one-time "career laddering'' fund of $100 million to allow experienced nurses and health-care workers to advance their careers within public health.

Dix said the goal is to create a work-life balance in nursing to "make this a career'' and "not a job for a few years.''

"Today, in our acute-care hospitals, we have 9,620 patients on base-bed capacity of 9,200. So, this is urgent to address health-human resources: for nurses, for health care workers, for health sciences professionals, for doctors.''