Last Tuesday in Victoria B.C., BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA) and EngAge BC CEO, Terry Lake held a press conference on nursing agencies. Since that time, the former B.C. Minister of Health has made appearances on major media networks across the province.
Lake called on the provincial government and private nursing agencies, along with health authorities and care providers, to come together to collaborate on mitigating the negative impacts associated with the overreliance of private nursing agencies. Read BCCPA’s media release here.
In his interview on Global News Morning BC, Lake explained that while temporary and private nursing agencies are helpful in filling vacancies when staff are sick or on vacation, it is unsustainable for operators.
“Now that we have such a health human resources crisis, they are […] hiring away nurses and care aides from care homes, and then contracting them back these care homes at two-and-a-half or three times the cost,” Lake explains.
“It reduces the quality and consistency of care to residents because they’re seeing different people […] and that has a lot of potential negative impacts, [such as] medication errors.”
Without any standards to adhere to, the reliance on temporary nursing agencies will result in lack of consistency and consequently reduced quality, as well as increased costs in long-term care.
Links to Lake’s interviews can be found below:
- CBC Radio: Early Edition (on B.C.’s health care crisis)
- CBC Radio: All Points West
- CBC Radio: Daybreak North
- CTV News
- CFAX 1070: Mornings with Al Ferraby
- Global News Morning BC
- Times Colonist
- Vancouver Sun
To hear Lake discuss more on nursing agency issues, as well as a recent meeting with the Minister of Health, capital plan information and new EquipCare BC funding, register for the next Tuesdays with Terry on June 13th here.
