Licensed Practical Nurses and care aides in B.C. will benefit from $2.5 million in new training funds to ensure that they are more effectively used in acute and continuing care settings.
Over the past decade, CUPE’s Health Services Division in B.C., the 43,000-member Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU), has mounted an extensive lobby campaign to address training needs for LPNs and care aides to help solve skills shortages in the province’s health system.
This latest win comes as a result of an agreement the union secured with employers around training issues in HEU’s last round of bargaining.
Chief nursing officers and human resource executives from all of the province’s health authorities supported the union’s efforts. While health authorities will have the overall responsibility for projects and distribution of the $2.5 million training fund, HEU will provide input and receive reports on how the money is put to work.
The funding must be spent to:
- provide education and training for acute care aides;
- enhance clinical competencies for care aides and LPNs in residential care, develop LPN leadership in residential care; and
- provide training for LPNs in renal, emergency, mental health, maternity and peri-operative specialties.
For more details, visit the HEU Website.