Kamloops patient ‘is not a number’

B.C. Health Minister and Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake was on the hot seat in the Legislature on Wednesday over hospital wait lists and ambulance response times. Here’s Hansard’s draft transcript of the exchange between him and Judy Darcy, MLA for New Westminster and the Opposition’s spokesperson on health. Darcy took him to task for the case of Kamloops resident Trevor Norsworthy, who has been waiting 21 months for a hip replacement.

J. Darcy: Last week a national report was released that shows that wait-lists for some surgeries in British Columbia are amongst the worst in the country. The minister tried to explain this away by throwing out numbers about how many surgeries have been performed.

But according to this report, the CIHI report, provinces right across the country are providing “more procedures now than they did five years ago,” yet “wait times are remaining stable.” They’re remaining stable in other provinces, but not in British Columbia. In B.C., wait times are getting longer.

When will the minister stop downplaying this serious problem and commit to taking action to shorten wait lists in this province?

Hon. T. Lake: When I rose in the House last week on this question, I used the large increase in the hip replacements and knee replacements in the province of British Columbia. At a time when the population has increased 13.5 percent, those procedures have gone up 90 percent and 138 percent respectively — so a lot more procedures being done.

There are some inequities around the province. We see that on the Island, for instance, they’ve had some challenges. As they did more resources into colonoscopy screening programs, that came at a cost perhaps to some elective surgeries. They are addressing that with an RFP to make sure that the surgical services are performed.

We are working hard to make sure that British Columbians get timely access for elective surgeries in the province of British Columbia.

Madame Speaker: The member for New Westminster on a supplemental.

J. Darcy: The minister loves to throw out numbers. But Trevor Norsworthy is not a number. Trevor Norsworthy is a 72-year-old man who’s already waited 21 months for a hip replacement at Royal Inland Hospital, in the minister’s own community, and he still doesn’t have a date for his surgery. That’s 21 months on heavy-duty painkillers, with his condition getting worse all the time.

You know, the minister’s tired old excuses are cold comfort. They’re cold comfort to people like Trevor and thousands of other people like him across British Columbia. Trevor Norsworthy deserves better.

Fourteen years in government, the problem is getting worse, and the minister just keeps throwing out numbers and platitudes. That’s not good enough. When is this minister going to take action so that Trevor and thousands of others like him don’t have to wait years and years in pain to get their surgeries?

Hon. T. Lake: In my tradition of throwing out numbers, how’s this? Between 1996 and 2001, when the NDP were in power — hip replacements, a 74 percent increase in wait times; knee replacements increased by 69 percent in terms of wait times. This is a challenge as the population ages. We all recognize that. And there are certain areas of the province where there are inequities. For instance, there are some wait lists that are longer than others — individual surgeons’.

We want to make sure that the best available technology is available for booking surgeries. We want to make sure there are models looked at, like we have here in Victoria with the first available surgeon, so that that will speed up access to surgeries. We’re working extremely hard to make sure people do get timely access.

If we want to talk about personal stories, we can talk about a 75-year-old skier who has had two hip replacements and three knee replacements and is still active. That’s the system we have in British Columbia, and we’ll continue to make things better for all British Columbians.

B.C. AMBULANCE SERVICE RESPONSE TIMES

K. Corrigan: In February we asked about the B.C. Ambulance Service’s refusal to release data on ambulance wait times. In fact, for a year and a half mayors across the Lower Mainland have been raising concerns about the risks associated with the downgrading of calls and longer wait times.
The minister insists this new ambulance regime is “good health care,” but the minister’s former colleague who is now the mayor of Mission, Randy Hawes, says at least two residents have died waiting for ambulances in his community.

So my question to the minister: what does the minister have to say to the mayor of Mission, and does he still insist that despite the growing body of evidence to the contrary, this is good health care?

Hon. T. Lake: B.C. Ambulance is a provincial service that has served the province of British Columbia for 41 years. It is a unique model in Canada. It serves all of British Columbia, and it is the emergency room on wheels. It uses a dynamic deployment model to make sure that there are no borders. They don’t recognize municipal boundaries. They go where they’re needed to go.

If you look at the data, it will show that the average response times in Mission and in Maple Ridge are unchanged over the last three years. Now, if there are situations where first responders or local government officials know of cases where there is a concern about response times, we want to know about that. There is a critical incident review done every time there is a concern over that.

We are using information from Mission to follow up on the information provided by the mayor. We are committed to making sure that B.C. Ambulance provides a high-quality service, which they have done in British Columbia for 41 years.

Madame Speaker: Burnaby–Deer Lake on a supplemental.

K. Corrigan: Well, I’m glad the minister is inviting communities to contact them when there are incidents. In fact, the city of Burnaby has sent four letters to the VP of health at B.C. emergency health services about dozens of serious incidents, including one death. There has been no response to any of the concerns. Communities across the Lower Mainland are raising similar serious incidences when ambulances simply are not responding adequately.

So my question to the minister: why is the government refusing to respond to the serious concerns about failures of the Ambulance Service? Is it trying to hide something? And when is it going to fix these potentially deadly problems with ambulance wait times in the Lower Mainland?

Hon. T. Lake: B.C. Ambulance does, in fact, look into every incident that’s reported to them. I have spoken with the chief medical officer for B.C. Ambulance, and they assure me that there have been no incidents as a result of the resource allocation plan changes that were made. In fact, what has happened is the wait times — the response times for emergent calls — have actually decreased, which was the objective of the resource allocation plan.

Having said that, B.C. Ambulance Service is doing a Lower Mainland study to look at deployment and look at demand, because that’s something that they always want to do to ensure they are providing the very best care for British Columbians.