Merritt isn’t benefitting from any of the 300 nurses recruited to the Interior Health Authority, but the need for more nurses here is still well known.
In January, the Ministry of Health announced it would hire 1,643 full-time registered nurses, 300 of which would be earmarked for the Interior Health Authority (IHA).
IHA vice president and chief operating officer of hospitals and communities, Susan Brown, confirmed 300 nurses have been hired, however, none were recruited to the Nicola Valley Hospital.
“Merritt was definitely identified as a community that required one nurse to be regularized,” Brown said, adding that the IHA will look into that.
IHA health services administrator for Thompson-Cariboo rural, Berni Easson, said they are still trying to recruit nurses to Merritt.
She said the reason none of the 300 nurses were placed in Merritt was because there were other vacancies identified as in need.
“Just because those 300 vacancies were filled doesn’t mean that we’re not still recruiting,” she said.
Easson said the Merritt hospital still needs more nurses, but there is less of a need for full-time positions as there is for part-time positions. She said more nurses are needed to cover for sick days and vacation time at Merritt’s hospital.
“We are still recruiting for nurses, but more on a casual basis,” she said.
Casual nurses are essentially on-call and don’t have a permanent position.
“If we had three qualified nurses that came to our door tomorrow and said we’d like to apply here to work in Merritt, we’d hire them as casuals,” Easson said.
The Nicola Valley Hospital has 26 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses combined. The difference between the two is that licensed practical nurses are not trained to the same extent as a registered nurse, Easson said.
Currently, the Nicola Valley Hospital has eight full-time registered nurses, six that work part-time and two casual registered nurses. Four full-time licensed practical nurses and six casuals work out of the hospital.
