Hundreds of nurses marched in Vancouver on May 31 to demand the British Columbia (BC) government to improve its health care system. The BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) said the protests took place during the union’s annual convention, with messages such as “well-staffed save lives” gathered at downtown’s Jack Poole Plaza.
In a statement ahead of the demonstration, BCNU called on state governments to move toward achieving a “nurse-to-patient ratio” based on a bargaining agreement between state governments and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association. If this staffing model is properly applied, it will lead to securing the necessary number of nurses.
In the background, there is an argument that hospitals in Metro Vancouver are having various difficulties due to lack of staff. In the week before the demonstration, two different groups of medical personnel released an open letter concerned about the situation inside the Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey.
One was by frontline staff at the hospital, who called for the emergency room (ER) to close because it was understaffed, and the quality of care was being threatened.