“The emergency room is closed unless patient is imminently dying.”
These were the words written on a sign posted at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in early October.
The Health Minister, along with Interior Health, have denied that the emergency room was closed, stating that this sign was not authorized and not accurate. However, patients have told stories about showing up to the ER that evening needing immediate help and being diverted to 100 Mile House due to a closure.
The people of the Cariboo deserve answers and this government needs to take accountability. Whether the ER was officially closed or not, this sign is an indication of the dire state of our healthcare system.
Under the NDP’s “new normal” you must be on the brink of death to get help. This is not isolated to Cariboo-Chilcotin. Across the province, staff shortages, ER closures, and wait times are increasing.
This summer, nurses at the Bulkley Valley District Hospital in Smithers were instructed to call 911 if their patients were in medical distress because they did not have enough doctors to properly staff the ER.
Our healthcare system is failing British Columbians.
Despite all the announcements, photo-ops, and record-high spending - healthcare in communities across the province is continuing to get worse, not better.
One in five British Columbians do not have a family doctor. The average wait time at B.C. walk-in clinics has increased significantly in recent years, going from 58 minutes in 2021 to 79 minutes in 2022. And now British Columbia is sending cancer patients to the United States for treatment.
Every day heroic doctors and nurses are faced with understaffed clinics and hospitals, gruelling hours, and an ever-increasing number of patients without access to primary care.
Healthcare workers are burnt out as staffing shortages continue to rage across the province. Interior Health had a 5.1 per cent staffing vacancy rate in 2019, now they are facing a 13.7 per cent vacancy rate.
Rural communities are disproportionately feeling the effect of healthcare staff shortages and it is affecting the whole system. One physician calling in sick can shut down entire clinics and force patients to be diverted to the nearest ER, hours away.
Action is desperately needed to address the critical situation unfolding at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital and in communities across B.C. We need real solutions to bring in more healthcare workers and increased efforts to retain our current staff. To address these issues, our BC United Caucus has consistently called on the NDP government to bring back the thousands of unvaccinated healthcare workers and allow physician assistants to practice in B.C.
Action from this government to address the urgent healthcare crisis is long overdue. The lives of British Columbians are at stake, they don’t have years to wait.
