Diagnosis: A mess

The saga of Northern Health seems to be taking on some of the tone of a rather scary Stephen King novel, as each subsequent story only seems to make things worse than the one before it. The latest blast of bad news for those managing the health care of the northwest came with Friday’s Daily News, which presented some information on its front page that cuts to services are coming to the northwest.

It’s a theme that the NDP have been putting forward for a bit now and now seem to be ramping up the pressure on the government with the one issue that will resonate loud and clear on the North coast. Having had a rather ineffective period of time in opposition during the last session, you sense that they may finally have found an issue that they can run with for a while and make some political progress with.

Of course on the other side of the house, the Liberals make the counter point that the NDP is over reacting and behaving irresponsibly.

With the sudden burst of stories about health care in the Northwest over the last couple of weeks, (see here, here, here, and here) a good number of people might be inclined to be listening to the NDP a bit more intensely now, to see if indeed they have their facts right and what the government of the day may wish to do to fix things.

Every blazing headline certainly doesn’t do much to enhance the Government’s position, a fact that no doubt the Premier was aware of as he officially opened the refurbished sections of the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital this weekend.

Follow the debate from the Daily News and try to figure out for yourself who is right, who is wrong or who just doesn’t have a clue!

HEALTH CUTS LEAVE PATIENTS OUT IN COLD, ALLEGE NDP
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Pages One and Three

The NDP is alleging the province plans to make massive cuts to specialists and surgical services throughout Northern Health.

“Demand for health care in rural communities continues to grow, said Adrian Dix, NDP health critic. “But instead of meeting the needs of rural and remote patients, the B. C. Liberal government is cutting the number of surgical and specialists to visit rural communities.

According to documents obtained by the Daily News, 70 visits from specialist doctors have been approved for Prince Rupert although there was request for 106.

“The Liberal government doesn’t appear to really care about people in rural communities,” said North Coast MLA Gary Coons. “This program allows patients in rural communities to be treated and recover close to home. The last thing our communities need are more cuts to health care. The Liberals should start solving the health care mess they have created instead.”

On the Queen Charlotte Islands, 27 visits were approved despite a request of 40

“There is no question that withdrawal of services will have a negative impact on health outcomes,” writes Dr. Tracy Morton, Queen Charlotte Islands General Hospital, in a letter to Northern Health on June 27.”

The specialist visits – including those by cardiologists, internists and urologists among others – are funded under the Northern and Isolation Travel Assistance Program, a province wide program for rural and remote communities funded by the Ministry of Health. The program provides travel assistance funding for physicians and specialists visiting rural and remote areas to provide medical services. Under the Liberal government’s own policy, rural communities are eligible for funding for up to 24 visits per specialty per year.

“The internal report from June shows that the Liberals only plan to fund 65 per cent of requested visits from rural communities in the northwest – ignoring Ministry’s policy and the needs of rural communities. That means more patients will be forced to travel long distances, at greater personal expense, to get the care they need,” he said.

Coons adds this means more pressure on Prince George, a hospital that has already wavered in the past under the added pressure of offering more services.

“Prince Rupert is having the number of visits by medical specialists cut from 106 last year to 70,” said Coons. “That will mean increased pressure on cities like Prince George – more than eight hours way over a mountain pass.

“And Prince George is already suffering from long wait lists and hospital overcrowding.

In an interview this afternoon, Health Minister George Abbott explained that the NDP is again overreacting – something they could have avoided if they had bothered to ask about the preliminary planning document.

”I think the NDP’s accusation is, not a typically, irresponsible and unfair,” Abbot told the Daily News. “The budget … has not been in cut, it has in fact been increased from $1.95 million to $2.05 million this year.

“It’s up, there’s no question about that.”

Allocations are made jointly by Northern Health, Ministry of Health and the B. C. Medical Association. The groups, which look at past patterns of use and make a provisional allocation that they will revisit in September, have approved 2,369 as opposed to 2,044 visits last year.

“The NDP are I think mischievously and irresponsibly trying to push conclusions based on a transitional planning document that doesn’t even tell half the story,” he said. “I know the NDP are trying to point to something nefarious here, but they could not be further from the truth.

“I am terribly disappointed in how unfair they have been to people that work very hard to provide the best health care to Northern British Columbians. I think it’s very irresponsible.”

Historically, requests for a 106 visits would be approved and not they wouldn’t get used, said Abbott. The committee has simply reallocated resources within the program where they will get used and it will have on impact on local partners, he said.

“It is preliminary, it is aimed at being a planning tool to help understand where demand is likely to be,” said the Minister.

“Northern Health is in the business of effectively meeting the real demand – lots of planning work is done in lots of areas of health care.

“To take those fragmentary pieces and make these totally specious claims about cuts and such I think is colossally irresponsible of the NDP.”