Little too late

Editor:

Re: Nurses deserve praise, kudos for job well done, Feedback, the Observer, May 28.

For the most part I agree with Dr. Grapes opinion regarding nursing staff, but I am wondering where he found his incorrect information in the second paragraph of his letter.

He contends the crisis in nursing care is a result of an NDP policy. As a board member for five years for Quesnel and District Community Health Council, (prior to the Northern Health Authority coming into existence), I can say there was no such policy to reduce full-time jobs to casual status ever put forward to the board while the NDP was in power. Even if this was contemplated (and it wasn’t), union contracts in effect would not have allowed full or part-time positions to be reduced to casual status.

The current Liberal government of Gordon Campbell has now been in power since 2001 and their funding cuts to universities and colleges have done nothing to help the nursing crisis, as the cost of education has skyrocketed. A glance at the job vacancies on the Northern Health website shows just how many full-time positions, both Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses, are available immediately. Any health authority would welcome a nurse seeking full-time work and they would receive full benefits.

Dr. Grapes is out of touch with what is currently happening with the new graduates seeking work. Most are going into full-time jobs as soon as they have their licence or registration papers, as the baby boom era nursing staff are quickly retiring.

Campbell’s Liberal government has increased nursing spaces (under great pressure) during the last two or three years but for the most part it has been too late, and the struggles that health facilities currently are going through to maintain staffing levels is the result of this lack of action.

The consistent lack of realistic health care funding from the Liberal government has also caused many problems within the system. With the inevitable budget overruns, services have to be cut, even though they are sorely needed, in a vain attempt to balance budgets.

The Liberal website brags about how many new CT scanners there are in B.C. under their time in power. I am sure the Quesnel CT scan was supplied by the good people of Quesnel working very hard fundraising. The government refused to supply the funding, yet the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell now takes credit for this.

Remember the Liberal slogan “health care when you need it where you need it?” Another promise from the Liberals that they have not kept.

Health care in B.C. needs to be funded correctly and the Liberals need to listen to the people who attended the Conversation on Health who overwhelmingly did not want privatization of their health care. This wasn’t the answer the Liberals wanted, so now we hear no more about this exercise that cost millions. This money could have gone directly into health care, solving some of the problems the Liberals have created.

Jean Birch

Secretary Treasurer, Quesnel Local

Hospital Employees’ Union.