Ensuring that Canadians have access to the care they need, when they need it

Earlier this week my Kamloops Liberal MLA, Kevin Krueger, talked about surgical wait lists and the Interior Health Authority (IHA), in a news story with CHNL 610.  In the story he mentioned that Kamloops is far behind Kelowna in wait times.

I am just wondering what the point was in his story — other than he continues to blames the NDP government from 10 years earlier.

The real story should however be about the personal stories of the people that this situation impacts!

For example I know of a person living in the Thompson Nicola area that has been off work since mid-November, waiting for specialized rib resection surgery at Kelowna General Hospital.  This person has been waiting for over 5 months now, and there appears to be no end in sight.

Nowadays a person can go online to the Health Ministry to see what wait times are like, so on Wednesday I had a look.  The website indicated that in the Vancouver Coastal Region, wait times for rib resection surgery can be up to 24 weeks, while on Vancouver Island the wait time currently can be as little as 13 weeks.

The Health Ministry, and the various Health Authorities in the province, decided that a number of hospitals would be designated to do some of the specialized surgery – this was done in a move to speed up the process and the number of procedures being performed. 

In the case of rib-resection surgery, this speeded up process only appears to be working for residents living in the Vancouver and Victoria area.  Meantime people on wait lists in the interior of the province are getting frustrated, anxious, and angry.

Why is it taking nearly 10 months to have this surgery performed at Kelowna General Hospital when it gets done in one third the time in Victoria?  After all, we’re not talking about minor cosmetic surgery, or setting a broken bone; this person has a rib blocking off the nerves and artery in their arm, and they have a partial blockage in their neck.

As I mentioned on this blog the other day, I still have the same question for the BC Liberals;

how many more years do you plan to blame all of the provinces ill and woes, on the former NDP government which you replaced a decade ago? 

We are not a third world country, so why should people in the BC interior be living in constant pain and worry for over twice as long as those who live at the coast -- and as much as 3 times longer than those in the Victoria area?

I also spent some additional time on the internet looking at Health Canada, and on found that on September 16^th, 2004, Health Canada released information regarding the 10 Year Plan to strengthen health care in Canada.

So what did the report have to say?

It indicated that, ‘… a deep and broad consensus has emerged on a shared agenda for renewal of health care in Canada. This agenda is focused on ensuring that Canadians have access to the care they need, when they need it.’

It also went on to say there was a ‘need to make timely access to quality care a reality for all Canadians. First Ministers remain committed to the dual objectives of better management of wait times and the measurable reduction of wait times where they are longer than medically acceptable.’

I am not sure what part of the province you may be in; however I think you would agree that access to primary health care is a right that all British Columbian's should share equally, whether they live in Kamloops, Victoria Vancouver, or in any other community in the province.

I‘m Alan Forseth in Kamloops, and those are the thoughts of one conservative.