Over 12,000 health care workers have signed the ‘Stop Gouging Health Care Workers’ petition created by Christina Gower, a Registered Psychiatric nurse.
The petition is fighting to decrease the cost of fees required for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), Registered Nurses (RN), Registered Psychiatric Nurses and Nurse Practitioners in BC to continue working.
The yearly cost of fees for a nurse in BC depends on their classification, however, according to Gower the near 9,000 LPN’s in BC are hit the hardest by the fees.
“It costs around $2,600 for me to work a year,” she explained, “my Union dues are about $1,800 a year, I’m paying the college $515 a year, then $164 to join the association and get insured.”
Nurses pay a license fee to the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM), which is regulated by the Provincial Government.
Last October, the BCCNM raised its licensing fees by 3% to RN’s and RPN’s, 4% for Employed Student Nurses ESN’s and 11% for LPN’s.
The exact demands from the petition are as follows:
- Nurses demand the government waive our licensing fees AND require the employer to absorb costs of liability insurance in lieu of MSP coverage
- In the interest of efficiencies, we urge the Ministers to reconsider the monopoly on liability insurance which makes the CNPS sole providers – thus allowing insurance fees to TRIPLE in just one year.
- We request an official government inquiry into the contract between the NNPBC and the CNPS to determine the unique agreement regarding coverage options.
The petition is also pushing for nurses to have the right to negotiate the cost of living increases, which was taken away when a 2% wage increase was mandated by the provincial government.
“The affordability crisis has hit the whole province, not just the Lower Mainland,” said Gower, “it’s harder and harder for Rural and Northern Health Authorities to find any health care staff, let alone just nurses.”
According to Gower, 50% of new nurses give up their practice within five years, which she says heavily impacts the severe shortage of nursing staff within BC.
“By the end of the decade, we will be about 29,000 nurses short, and that was the trajectory before COVID and the increase in licensing fees” explained Gower, “as of two years ago we were about 4,000 nurses short in BC.”
The shortage has severely impacted nurses in Northern Health as well, according to BC Nurses Union President, Christine Sorenson.
“We have a critical shortage of nurses in the province and the difficulties that come with nurses being able to provide safe patient care and health facilities that are full of patients and at times overflowing,” explained Sorenson.
A 2018 report by the Auditor General, Carol Bellringer notes, “Northern Health is not effectively recruiting and retaining enough RNs and NPs to fill the rural and remote RN and NP positions identified in its HHR plan.”
The report also explained seven local health areas in the North were short more than 20% of their workforce: Upper Skeena, Nechako, Smithers, Prince Rupert, Fort Nelson, Peace River North and Terrace.
Gower hopes the success of the petition will result in more nursing positions being filled and help close the growing gap in the workforce.
“It’s like a snowball effect, the workload gets so heavy that people quit, then we’re shorter staff and then the workload gets higher and so forth,” said Gower.