Hundreds of unfilled positions for mental health nurses in B.C. as Vancouver promises to hire

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s promise to hire 100 mental health nurses to pair with police has faced repeated logistical questions, one of the key ones being how he would deliver on the pledge amid a shortage of health-care workers.

A proposal is set to go to council next week that would see the city grant Vancouver Coastal Health $2.8 million to hire 58 health-care workers to "enhance enhance and expand mental health initiatives" in the city, there are hundreds of unfilled psychiatric nursing positions throughout B.C.

Fraser Health reported 86 vacant mental health positions for both registered psychiatric nurses and registered nurses. VCH Coastal has 83 mental health positions open and Interior Health says they have 101 positions posted for both RPN’s and RN’s who support mental health services.

Registered nurse Maddi Beaumont questions how the city would be able to hire these professionals in any significant number, and she worries about the implications for the system.

"Registered psych nurses, RPN’s they have expert knowledge and they are valuable and they are needed but the problem is you can't grow them on trees,” said Beaumont.

"Are you going to pull them from teams that are already strapped that already don't have lines filled? Are you going to take them from there? "When we're talking about filling new positions and making new teams and everything it's great, that would be awesome, I’m all for that, truly, but where are the nurses coming from?"

While the campaign promise from Sim and his ABC party was specifically to hire mental health nurses on "day one" to significantly ramp up staffing in "VPD/Health Authority partnered policing programs," the proposal coming to council makes it clear that will not happen.

"Given the importance of interdisciplinary response teams, VCH proposes that funding be directed to support a range of different types of mental health workers, including nurses, social workers, peers, and others - rather than be solely directed to mental health nurses," the report coming to council says, noting "challenges with both hiring capacity and labour market availability."

ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato says the health authority has assured the city that the 58 new positions can and will be filled.

"Vancouver Coastal Health has assured us that the framework they've put forward is workable and that is to hire 58 mental health clinicians,” she said.

Of the 58 positions, it is not clear how many will be nursing jobs and only 14 of the new hires will be for programs where health-care workers partner with police.

Coun. Dominato conceded that the mental health workers hired won't be exclusively psychiatric nurses but could also be social workers. .

Tyson Singh Kelsall is an outreach social worker in the downtown east side and believes the money could be better spent elsewhere.

"I know from a social worker point of view we wouldn't actually need more social workers if we addressed the actual issues, like income security programs, housing,” said Singh Kelsall. “It makes it difficult to be a social worker when you’re constantly battling structural issues.”