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More nurses to be hired in northwest B.C.

Terrace could very well be in line to have vacant nursing positions here filled thanks to an agreement between government and the union.
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Northern Health is opening 100 more positions in the north.

Terrace could very well be in line to have vacant nursing positions here filled thanks to an agreement reached by the provincial government and the BC Nurses’ Union last week.

But details are still being worked out, says the Northern Health Authority’s Jonathon Dyck.

The overall agreement calls for 1,600 positions to be filled across B.C. with 100 of those for the north.

The health authority’s jobs website indicates there are 12 positions vacant here and 39 within the northwest.

“With any type of recruitment for nurses, there is a process we have to follow, and that includes going through an internal posting and an external posting,” said Dyck. “We are very early on in this process,” he said.

Last week’s agreement follows on one reached four years ago between the nurses’ union and the province which called for more than 2,100 positions to be filled but critics have pointed out  that that agreement remains largely unfilled.

Nurses’ union officials expect nurses now employed as casuals to apply for the positions which are to be classified as regular jobs.

The province has budgeted $500,000 for recruitment and has set the end of March to have the positions filled.

The greatest need across the province is for specialty nurses.

The nursing job postings for Terrace include three for Licenced Practical Nurses, two for psychiatric nurses and one for a mental health clinician. There are also two general nursing positions, and positions open in critical care, acute care, the operating room, and maternity. Of those, three are full time, one is part time, and eight are casual jobs.