Whenever I delve into the topic of health care in BC, I always want to start by thanking our frontline healthcare workers for what they do. That includes paramedics, as we have some very rural parts here in Cariboo-Chilcotin which means lives are saved in the ambulance.
The hospitals in our region are governed by Interior Health, and in just two months last year – July and August 2024 – Interior Health had nearly 60 emergency room closures across their hospital network.
That’s why back in early August I held a healthcare rally in Williams Lake alongside the local mayor and about 250 supporters. We didn't congregate to target Interior Health, but rather to call on the NDP government to fund rural health care, address service gaps, and support our seniors.
Thankfully, there hasn’t been an emergency department closure at one of our hospitals in Cariboo-Chilcotin since October 30, 2024. However, the thought of another summer of ER closures in this region weighs heavily on me.
What we can do now is listen to frontline healthcare workers and look at what programs or incentives we can offer to recruit and retain nurses, doctors, and hospital staff. We are losing workers to stress leaves, and we have to ask how their work environment could be improved.
The reality is that 700,000 British Columbians lack a family doctor, our citizens cannot access timely specialist appointments, and our residents are dying on wait lists.
According to a recent report by SecondStreet.org, between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, there were 988 British Columbians who died while waiting for surgery and 3,528 who died while waiting for diagnostic tests.
In total, 4,516 British Columbians died while on wait lists for treatment.
My colleague Dr. Anna Kindy, the BC Conservative health critic and MLA for North Island, told me she is hearing about healthcare wait times such as one year for a Parkinson’s patient to see a neurologist in Vancouver and one and a half years for an individual to get a pacemaker in Campbell River. She also said she has heard of patients waiting three months for a PET scan, in which time treatable cancer can become palliative.
Too many residents of Cariboo-Chilcotin are still without a family physician. My constituency office staff and I are aware of the issues around access to health care in these rural parts of BC.
If you have an experience, good or bad, with the healthcare system that you want to share with my constituency office staff and I, please reach out – we are here to listen, learn, and take action.
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