Health & Healthcare

Health staffing platforms

Here's what the 2024 BC election parties are promising.

BC NDP

  • Forgive tuition loans of health professionals who commit to long-term BC residency

    "Train, hire and keep more doctors, nurses and other health professionals with a practice-in-BC guarantee. Last year, in addition to the doctors we added, we also hired 6,300 nurses and now have the fastest-growing nurse workforce in the country. And we’re going to keep that momentum going so we continue to lower nurse- to-patient ratios, in part, through a new program that forgives the tuition loans of health professionals in return for a long- term BC residency guarantee." — An Action Plan for You, retrieved 2024-10-07

  • Require regulatory colleges to grant provisional licenses immediately to Canadian-trained providers and within 6 weeks for others

    "Get out-of-province health care providers delivering care sooner by requiring BC’s health regulatory colleges to provide provisional licences immediately to Canadian-trained providers and within six weeks for providers from approved jurisdictions, while we continue to improve processing times overall and provide more transparency on licensing timelines." — An Action Plan for You, retrieved 2024-10-07

  • Add 48 new medical residency positions by 2028
  • Provide targeted tuition assistance to help with regional shortages of some healthcare professionals

    "Address regional shortages of critical health care professionals – like labratory, imaging and cardiology technologists, psychologists and pharmacists — through targeted tuition assistance."— An Action Plan for You, retrieved 2024-10-07

BC Conservatives

  • Rehire healthcare workers who didn't take COVID vaccines
  • Review and expand existing programmes to incentivise doctors and nurses to work in high-need communities
  • Ensure a path for Healthcare Assistants and LPNs to upskill

    "Nurses that want to improve their credentials should have flexible options for career training. As experienced professionals retire, our system will need to replace this expertise. We will ensure that front line staff like Healthcare Assistants and Licensed Practical Nurses that want to upskill their credentials have a path that ensures they can both support our healthcare system and advance their careers." — conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Repeal the Health Professions and Occupations Act

    "Immediately repealing the Health Professions and Occupations Act (Bill C-36) to reduce the unnecessary red tape, political and ideology control that the NDP have imposed on the healthcare system.

    1. The front lines understand and know their professions better than government. We want to work with them to establish legislation that ensures that the oversight of medical professions is neither politicized, nor needlessly restrictive and/or government regulated."

    conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Present early offers and multi-year employment contracts to keep BC-educated medical professionals in the province

    "Present early offers and enter in multi-year employment contracts with BC educated medical professionals (pending successful program completion) to incentivize and encourage graduates to remain in the province." — conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Increase residency spots for medical students who commit to practising in high-need areas post-graduation
  • Create new spots in medical schools reserved for BC students

    "Create new spots in BC medical schools reserved specifically for BC students. Students from British Columbia are more likely to want to practice in communities closer to home." — conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Work with post-secondary institutions to expand hands-on experience opportunities

    "Work with our post-secondary institutions to expand opportunities for medical students to get hands-on experience while completing their education. We need to build connections between students who seek to work in healthcare specifically in high need positions and communities (e.g., Healthcare Assistants)." — conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Provide incentives to work in small municipalities and rural communities
  • Expand domestic and international recruitment efforts

    "Expanding both domestic and international recruitment efforts to fill urgent needs within the system.

    o We cannot improve access if we do not have the necessary staff. Out-of-province and international recruitment can provide an immediate stopgap to address staffing shortfalls.

    o Out-of-province and international professionals that come to BC to practice in high need jurisdictions will have access to financial incentives."

    conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

  • Nominate and accelerate immigration applications for medical professionals

    "Taking all constitutionally permitted steps within the immigration system to nominate and accelerate applications for medical professionals.

    o The federal government has had the ability to expedite applications for international medical professionals, but they have failed to do so.

    o We will work with the federal government to ensure that applicants are able to acquire the necessary credentials to begin practicing in Canada immediately.

    o We will identify ways to accelerate credential recognition to ensure that no British Columbian has skills that go to waste.

    o We will build on the model of the Atlantic Physicians Registry and work with other provinces to simplify processes for medical professionals to move between jurisdictions."

    conservativebc.ca, retrieved 2024-10-08

BC Greens

  • Review and remove barriers for externally-trained health professionals from registering in BC
  • Increase funding for nurses in the public system
  • End reliance on agency nurses
  • Require health authorities to share data for workforce planning

    "Require health authorities to collect and share data for workforce planning, ensuring alignment with educational institutes." — BC Greens 2024 Platform, retrieved 2024-10-09

  • Review loan forgiveness and paid practicums for all healthcare students to incentivise staffing and support training

    "Review loan forgiveness and paid practicums for all healthcare students to incentivize sufficient staffing and support training." — BC Greens 2024 Platform, retrieved 2024-10-09

  • Regulate radiographers and medical imaging technologists

    "Regulate radiographers and medical imaging technologists so they can work to the full scope of their practice." — BC Greens 2024 Platform, retrieved 2024-10-09

  • Reinstate the Provincial Chief Nursing Officer role to advocate for nurses
  • Adopt and implement the "Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada"

Looking for the parties' positions on other topics?

See our full 2024 BC election platform comparison
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