Last fall, the provincial government announced its intentions to make changes to the Care Aide Registry. As official representatives for these workers, your union was disappointed that there was no involvement from any of the unions representing care aides on the outcome nor the rollout process.

Working with other unions in the sector, the BCGEU made two submissions to the Assistant Deputy Manager on this subject, to voice our disagreement with the consolidation of the Care Aide Registry into a nursing regulator.

A third submission was sent last week. As stated in our recent submission, “placing nurses in a position to oversee care aides in a hierarchical health system is creating a potential for problems. The differences in duties, pressures, and work culture are significant.”

Many other concerns from the Policy Intentions Paper were outlined, including the critical tone of the policy paper, the integration of current and new Care Aide Registry members, the issue of volunteer programs overlapping with our members' professional work, and other questions concerning the fee structure, investigations and discipline.

View the submission here.

Also, there is still an opportunity for individuals to make a submission on the paper, until February 7. Provide your comments on the Health Care Assistant Oversight response survey here.

In the meantime, we will ensure members are updated as this process continues.