B.C. nurses struggle with workload as hospital volumes soar
Posted March 13, 2025 7:13 am.
Hospitals around British Columbia are seeing a spike in the number of patients, with nurses voicing their concerns about the standard of care being provided and burnout.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health acknowledges the increase and explains that there are a couple of reasons contributing to it. Respiratory illness season is one, but other factors include a growing and aging population, more people having complicated medical conditions and an ongoing staffing shortage.
For the month of February, patient numbers have risen year over year, the MoH says.
(Courtesy Ministry of Health)
BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) president Adriane Gear tells 1130 NewsRadio that there simply aren’t enough nurses to handle increasing patient numbers, and it calls into question the quality of care.
“At any given time, we are almost 6,000 nurses short, meaning we have about 6,000 nursing vacancies. It makes it very difficult to provide the care to patients that they require and deserve,” Gear explained.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!“And then when you add the added pressure of higher demands on the system, when we have more patients than funded beds, we go into an over capacity situation. That means a unit that should have 25 patients might have 28, 29, 30 patients.
“We can all do more with less, but this has become the chronic state and frankly, the expectation of employers and government that nurses will just continue to practice nursing in a way that means they can’t meet their professional standards. How can you when you’re supposed to be responsible for four patients and you have eight or 10?”
Last year, the BCNU negotiated patient-nurse ratios, but Gear points out they have yet to be implemented.
“We’re getting close, but you can’t help but ask the question: if we don’t have enough nurses now, where are we going to get all the nurses for ratios? That is a serious challenge,” she said.
“We need to hire every new grad, we need to make it easier for internationally educated nurses to get licensed here, we need to attract nurses from other jurisdictions to come here, and we need to address the working conditions.”
For hospital-based care settings, the nurse-to-patient ratios that have been agreed upon are:
- General medical/surgical inpatient: 1:4 at all times
- Rehabilitation: 1:5 day/evening, 1:7 night
- Palliative: 1:3 at all times
- Focused (special) care: 1:3 at all times
- High acuity/step down: 1:2 at all times
- Intensive care: 1:1 at all times
The staffing shortage, she explains, doesn’t just affect hospitals. Gear says there aren’t enough staffers to handle patients who receive care at home or in long-term care facilities.
“We believe once we have better working conditions, once ratios are starting to be implemented in a meaningful way, that we will see nurses coming back the profession,” said a frustrated Gear.
“When nurses can’t prioritize care, when they can’t observe their patients and pick up on subtle changes and intervene quickly — that can create a situation where there could be complications and negative outcomes. It is having severe impacts on nurses and their mental health.”
The current level of burnout, Gear adds, has also forced many nurses to leave the profession. In turn, she’s pushing for improved policy around retention and recruitment.
“The burden is just too great.”
The Ministry of Health says that in November 2023, the number of provincially funded acute care beds went up from 9,202 to 9,929.
“This helps with more efficient patient flow through the hospital and quicker patient discharge — whether patients are discharged home or to their next level of care. In addition to base beds, hospitals also have surge beds available,” the MoH stated.
This comes after the health minister says “now is the time” for United States doctors and nurses to move to B.C., as it looks to fast-track credentials amid the ongoing trade war started by the U.S.
With files from Charlie Carey.
