July 25th – “I’m sorry, our system is broken”! These were the words from the emergency room doctor who treated my friend Paul a couple of weeks ago after he’d been rushed to Victoria’s Jubilee Hospital in an ambulance and ended up sitting in the ER waiting room for 12 hours, his head tucked firmly between his legs. Apparently, there was only one ER physician on staff that night and she couldn’t have been more apologetic. But this disturbing tale is not just about the egregious shortage of emergency staff but points directly at a BC health system full of cracks, masked by government promises and hyperbole.
Despite all of the announcements of expanded medical school training, the promises of more foreign doctors and better overall compensation the crisis health continues. Nearly a million British Columbians are without a family doctor and with our aging population this deficit is acutely felt across the spectrum of care. Yes, the government has injected big money to entice docs to return to general medicine, but a side effect is the reduced number of physicians working in emergency wards across the province.
Not surprisingly, health care is a major election issue and both BC United and the BC Conservatives are weighing in with proposals for a mixed-care model with public money supporting private clinics to clear waiting lists. The problem for Kevin Falcon and the former BC Liberals is they lack credibility after failing to solve these systemic issues during their many years in office. Thus, the BC Conservatives have stepped into the breach.
Without providing a final cost analysis, BC Tory leader John Rustad is talking about a short-term taxpayer funding spike to be followed by a gradual reduction in health care spending. Rustad says simply pouring more money into the existing system is no solution. The BC Conservatives promise to rapidly speed-up the intake of foreign doctors and bring in credentialed doctors assistants. A mixed public-private health care system is envisioned similar to many in operating in Europe. The ultimate objective of this new plan is an immediate improvement in health services.
So, what does the NDP do in response? They double-down with a hammer. Rookie NDP Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar waves the BC Conservative plan on camera and pointed to page 12 where he says it clearly spells out a $4.1-billion cut in health care spending. Now, if you happen to look at this document, the 4.1-billion-dollar dump is nowhere to be seen but it all makes for great theatre.
In full election mode, Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix have also joined the fray claiming that all their good work to increase medical training, build urgent care centres and re-deploy medical staff is at risk under this hairbrained Conservative scheme. In short, fear of change and clinging to a failing system is apparently preferable to trying something new.
Behind all of this political posturing is the outfall of the Covid-19 pandemic which dramatically sped-up the disintegration of BC health care. We can no longer afford to await possible improvements over the next decade. Thousands are facing immediate and, in some cases, dire health issues and being put on hold to see a doctor is outrageous. It’s time for innovation to find a balance between the idealism of a fully private Canadian health care and the much-needed innovation of private sector assistance. The alternative will be more 12-hour emergency room visits with even longer waiting times. Potentially a matter of life and death.