Northern Health is unable to fill a substantial number of nursing positions in rural B.C. areas.

According to a report issued by the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, as of April 2017, Northern Health was short 121 Registered Nurses (RN).

This is about 15% of its rural and remote workforce.

More than a quarter of rural and remote Nurse Practitioner (NP) positions were also left vacant.

Nurses are an important part of healthcare in the north as they offer a majority of patient care and in some remote communities, they are the only permanent health care provider.

“Northern Health did not fill all of its Registered Nurse and Nurse Practitioner positions. While there are influences outside of Northern Health’s control when it comes to recruiting and retaining nurses, there are factors that it can control and therefore, areas for improvement,” said Auditor General Carol Bellringer.  

The impacts of the staffing shortage include unmet patient needs, patient safety risks, nurse burnout and higher costs.

According to the report, a number of factors lead to the shortage including weather, isolation, limited amenities as well as cost and availability of housing.

Factors that Northern Health can influence and improve include support for RNs joining interprofessional teams, training for nurse managers and the distribution of RN education programs in Northern B.C.

Northern Health has already implemented formal employee referral programs, staff recognition programs, multiple targets marketing campaigns as well as student placement and clinical rotations at rural and remote locations.

A full report is available online through the Office of the Auditor General website.