VICTORIA—Despite the need for immediate action to fix emergency room overcrowding, inadequate staffing levels and increasing patient volumes at Fraser Health Authority hospitals, the Liberal government is instead buying time with a vague plan to review the health authority, say New Democrats.
“This government denies that there’s a crisis at Fraser Health, but the reality is that we have seen a disturbing trend of hallway medicine in the health authority’s hospitals,” said New Democrat health critic Judy Darcy. “The Liberals want to look like they are finding solutions to this totally unacceptable reality, when in fact they have denied the problem, and failed to find a solution that will help patients today.”
In the wake of media reports about problems at Surrey Memorial Hospital and serious concerns raised by nurses, the B.C. Liberal government announced that it would conduct a review of Fraser Health, producing a three-year strategic plan to be implemented in the new fiscal year.
“We know almost nothing about the scope of this review, and how effective it will be in finding serious, long-term solutions to the chronic problems facing Fraser Health. Will there be a chance for patients and family members to have their voices heard? Will it look at bed shortages and staffing cuts? Will it look at reversing the damaging cuts that have been made in recent months? Will it rescind the wheelchair tax? What we do know is this: this review will be of little help to patients being treated in hospital hallways right now.”
Darcy says the situation at Fraser Health has revealed that the government has no vision when it comes to healthcare, other than scrambling from crisis to crisis to reduce the damage they have caused by cuts to health authorities across the province.
“Surrey Memorial just opened the doors on its brand new ER, and already we are hearing that patients are being treated in hallways. This should prove to the B.C. Liberals once and for all that our health system is complex, and while simple infrastructure investments are welcome and needed, they are no substitute for real investment on wards and in communities,” said Darcy.
Darcy added that British Columbians have been on a rollercoaster ride created by the Liberal budget, with the government trying to push through destructive cost-cutting measures – from instituting wheelchair fees for seniors in care homes, to curbing hours at a cancer clinic – and only backing off after intense public pressure.
“British Columbians deserve a health care system that has a long-term vision, not a trial-and-error regime of cuts and reviews. We shouldn’t have to approach our health care system with constant vigilance, fearful that services we depend on will disappear at random,” said Darcy.