Northern Health to gain 100 new nursing positions as part of BC Government plan

Help for Nurses at Prince Rupert
Regional Hospital may soon be
on the way after an announcement
on hiring plans in BC on Tuesday

Those with a nursing degree or certification will want to be watching the various Health Authority job opportunities boards over the next few weeks, as the province looks to add numbers to the current staffing levels at Health Authorities across the province.

“Over the past year, we have been working closely with nurses to make health care improvements that benefit both patients and staff. We are confident this spirit of partnership will continue as we work together on a new collective agreement that meets the goals of nurses, health authorities and the Province.” -- Health Minister Terry Lake with background on yesterdays announcement on Health care hirings.

The Province of British Columbia and the BC Nurses' Union outlined an ambitious plan on Tuesday that will see over 1,600 additional regular nursing positions added to the British Columbia health system by March 31st, the majority of the positions will be created in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island Health Authorities.

For the Northern Health region, the number of new positions provided by the province will be 100, Northern Health has not outlined as of yet how that number will be allocated to the various health regions across Northern British Columbia, such as Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii.

The Northern Health job opportunities listings can be found here.

The BC Nurses' Union also is asking those that may be interested in the positions available to contact them at hireanurse@bcnu.org

To fill as large a number of upcoming openings as has been announced, the BCNU has called on those nurses currently working on a casual basis, or those that have retired to apply for the full time jobs to help fill the positions that will be available.

You can learn more about that initiative and how it works from this media release from the BCNU

The recruitment numbers for the remainder of the province are as follows:

Fraser Health  -- 400
Vancouver Coastal -- 235
Providence Health Care -- 80
Island Health -- 290
Interior Health -- 300
Provincial Health Services Authority 238

You can review the full announcement from the Provincial government, as well as an audio recording of the outline of the hiring plan here.

For more items related to health care on the North Coast see our archive page here.