‘Second-class healthcare’: Conservative health critic slams NDP for BC’s doctor, ER woes

Brennan Day, MLA for Courtenay-Comox and the BC Conservatives' health critic, has painted a stark picture of British Columbia's escalating healthcare woes, from frequent emergency room (ER) closures to unfulfilled promises on family doctors.

The MLA highlighted inefficiencies, bureaucratic barriers, and a lack of transparency, while outlining potential solutions under a Conservative government during an interview with NowMedia video host Jim Csek.

Day emphasized that ER closures are hitting rural communities hardest, a problem he said is worsening across the province.

Interior Health has been plagued with ER closures since late 2021 and has faced 118 temporary closures at emergency departments across the region this year alone.

“Certainly in the Interior (...) there's really large voids in this province where second tier healthcare, second class healthcare is the norm and you're never gonna get the same quality of care you'd get in downtown Vancouver,” he said.

Lillooet has faced 46 temporary closures this year, the highest at any emergency department.

Since January, Oliver’s ER has closed 22 times, 100 Mile House’s has closed 13 times, Merritt’s has closed 12 times while Clearwater has had eight closures and Slocan has dealt with seven.

Although Interior Health stopped giving a reason for the closures, they have been linked to nurse and doctor shortages in the past.

Additionally, Kelowna General Hospital was hit with a lengthy closure of its pediatric unit this summer due to limited physician availability. The unit returned to full service on Aug. 14.

In late July, Interior Health advised the public of potential changes to maternity service at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

"Certainly we're seeing the effects here on Vancouver Island as well," Day said, noting that Comox Valley Hospital and facilities on the north Island are on "diversion effectively" due to staffing shortages.

He added that the issue is felt "certainly more acutely in the rural areas," with everyone in the province experiencing it to some degree.

Addressing rural staffing challenges, Day said incentives are key. To attract professionals to places like Merritt or Lillooet, Day advocated for broad training before specialization and higher pay.

"Making sure that doctors are trained broadly before they specialize to ensure that they're comfortable in those settings,” he said. “A lot of doctors dislike small settings because you have to be the jack of all trades effectively."

On the recruitment front, foreign recruitment barriers are a major frustration for Day and he expressed skepticism about the NDP's push to attract doctors from the United States.

Health Minister Josie Osborne said in July the province had received almost 780 job applications from American health workers.

"I think that's gonna be challenging given the wage disparities between the two countries and the poor exchange rate right now, frankly," Day said. "People make decisions based on where they can go to make some money, not just the healthcare system."

Despite BC having "the highest number of doctors per a hundred thousand people in the country," Day pointed out the province still has nearly 1.4 million residents lacking a family doctor or nurse practitioner.

This, he argued, stems from "an efficiency and delivery issue” where resources are "being eaten up by the health authorities in management” instead of delivering frontline services.

Day was blunt about the NDP's broken promise, made by Premier David Eby, that every British Columbian would have a family doctor by the end of 2025.

Day also criticized bureaucratic accountability and transparency under the NDP. He cited examples like the resignation of Interior Health's CEO amid toxic workplace allegations and similar issues in Fraser Health.

"The transparency of this government... grades regularly against the national average as being bottom of the barrel,” he said.

If Conservatives form government, Day said healthcare would be a top priority, but tied to economic balance. He said solutions include scrutinizing spending to ensure it reaches frontlines, like ERs and family doctors, while fostering economic growth to retain youth and broaden the tax base.

"We need to start balancing both sides of the ledger," he stated. "The NDP is really focused on government spending and public hiring, but unfortunately, without the capital on the other side, paying the taxes... what we're gonna see over time is a degradation in those public services."

Day is not the only Conservative MLA to sound the alarm on BC’s healthcare system.

Gavin Dew, Kristina Loewen and Macklin McCall, who are all MLAs in the Kelowna area, have repeatedly spoken out against the issues facing Interior Health.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar was joined by MLAs in the Prince George area to decry service interruptions in both cities.

Speaking to NowMedia last year, Health Minister Josie Osborne said of the closures: “We are working closely with health authorities to hire more staff, to expand recruitment incentives for health-care workers, and to add resources to the ambulance system to ensure there is a timely response for when people need care.”

She added: "This is partly about health-care worker shortages that we know is a global issue, but we also know that the lack of access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner causes people to rely on emergency rooms more."

Osborne also acknowledged ER closures are "hard on communities and hard on people."

She concluded: "Our government is fully committed to the task.”