Nurse retention in senior care facilities worsens as workforce shrinks, report says – Nelson News

Photo: Samantha Holomay

As Canada’s population ages, employee retention in seniors’ homes is becoming an increasing concern.

Mila Nikoff previously worked at an Interior Health long-term care facility.

She said that the pandemic did a number on staffing at her previous job, but other factors also impacted employee retention.

“People are leaving to find better work-life balance elsewhere,” she said.

According to a Jan.22 Economic and Social Report from Statistics Canada, in 2016, up to 14 per cent of women working in seniors’ homes left the healthcare and social assistance sector, while 21 per cent exited the nursing and residential care facilities sub-sector.

Nikoff said nearby facilities that are often new try to draw healthcare workers by cherry-picking staff from other facilities, drawing them in with better wages and preferable working hours.

She suggested that the older facilities, which are often already understaffed, are left to fill in the gaps.

The report found that women who earned relatively low wages were not unionized, or had low job tenure, were more likely to leave these sectors compared to their counterparts.

Health-care professionals, including those from Interior Health, continue to highlight the need for better wages, improved working conditions, and stronger retention strategies to address ongoing staffing shortages in seniors’ care.

Dr. Wiedrcik, a physician at Kootenay Lake Hospital, said that burnout and a lack of resources for patient care may be another reason why some people are choosing not to work at senior homes or residential care facilities.

“There are hospitals and long-term care facilities that are severely understaffed, so therefore a lot of resources aren’t available because of the lack of staff,” he said.

“And then you’re on top of that, you’re working with old equipment that is outdated.”

Wiedrick credited the Ministry of Health for implementing initiatives that help fund new start primary care doctors.

The provincial Rural Retention Incentive was expanded in April 2024 for rural healthcare workers to receive up to $2,000 per quarter, a maximum of $8,000 annually.

However, he added that being understaffed means some people have to handle the workload of more than one person.

“What it meant for a lot of smaller communities across B.C. is that there was now a disincentive to work outside of the office and provide emergency care,” said Wiedrick.

“We’ve kind of been relying on a bunch of people doing more than one role to staff our emergencies, and then there weren’t enough doctors to staff.”

*Some sources names have been changed to protect their identity.