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While staff shortages in Kamloops and Kelowna hospitals got lots of headlines last summer and promises from Interior Health to make things better, they’ve only gotten worse.

This is coming at a time when emergency wards are starting to feel the impact of a renewed flu season and COVID cases expected to pick up.

In May, Liberal MLAs Peter Milobar and Todd Stone released data showing some departments at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops were down by as much as 66% on some shifts over the long weekend.

READ MORE: Kamloops ER had less than 50% staffing on long weekend: B.C. Liberals

That was followed, the next day, by Interior Health President and CEO Susan Brown telling iNFOnews.ca that she was taking responsibility for fixing the problem after meeting with nurses at the hospital.

“I very much appreciated how thoughtful and organized the nurses were,” Brown said on May 27. “We spoke with quite a few yesterday and they came with some great ideas so we’re into action on those. It will be my job to ensure follow-up and follow-through.”

READ MORE: How Interior Health is planning to tackle RIH understaffing issues

Data provided by Interior Health said the vacancy rate – the proportion of shifts not filled – for front line clinicians (registered nurses, licenced practical nurses and care aids) was 23% for a four-week period in June for Royal Inland.

That compared to only 10% in 2019, before the pandemic.

READ MORE: Staffing shortage twice as bad at Kamloops hospital versus Kelowna

New figures sent to iNFOnews.ca show a 29.3% vacancy rate for October 2022. In October 2019 the vacancy rate was only 8.8%.

The October 2022 figures include a 39.07% vacancy rate for licenced practical nurses, 28.56% for registered nurses and 22.5% for care aids.

Those are dramatic increases from October 2019 when, for example, only 4.6% of licenced practical nurse shifts were unfilled.

The situation has also deteriorated at Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon hospitals.

For Kelowna, 12.87% of front line positions were vacant in October. This compares to 8.53% in October 2019 and 11% in June.

Penticton Regional Hospital had a front-line vacancy rate of 16.13% this October versus 9.45% in 2019.

Vernon Jubilee Hospital had a vacancy rate (16.1%) close to Penticton's in October, up from 8.05% in 2019.

Overall, the front line staff vacancy rate in the entire Interior Health region was 14.11% in October of this year compared to 7.96% in 2019.

In Kamloops, Vernon and Kelowna, the greatest shortages were for licenced practical nurses and the least were for care aids.

Penticton also had its biggest shortages with licenced practical nurses but the care aid vacancies were higher than for registered nurses.

In all four hospitals, the vacancy rate was significantly higher in October of this year versus 2019.

Brown was not available for an interview by publication time today. She was also not available to respond to the June figures despite repeated request from iNFOnews.ca.

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