The current state of B.C.’s health care system was the focus of the plenary policy session at UBCM earlier today. Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, was joined by a panel drawn from healthcare professions and local government. The session ran as local government leaders increasingly ask questions about the standards of service available in communities from Victoria to Dawson Creek.
In his opening words at Tuesday’s UBCM session on Re-Envisioning Health Care in BC, Minister Adrian Dix described the concurrent crises of COVID-19 and the overdose public health emergency as an unparalleled time. “We’ve never come this close to asking so much of our healthcare system,” said Dix.
The Minister spoke of the last two and half years as a transformative time that asked whole communities of healthcare providers to work together. He also identified many of the cracks in the system: too many people without primary care; a growing and aging population that creates a significant increase in demand; and a fee-for-service model that is broken. While acknowledging shortcomings in the current system, Dix did not make any new spending promises to address them.
Delegates heard impactful testimonials from the Town of Port McNeill, the District of Clearwater and the City of Vancouver. Speakers shared their experiences of emergency room closures, lack of ambulance service, medical staff shortages and immense challenges in local recruitment and retention. “Burnout is real,” said Mayor Gaby Wickstrom.
A panel of subject matter experts provided perspectives on potential short and long-term solutions. Of note for delegates, Dr. Ray Markham highlighted the role that local governments have in holding space for partnership tables that can collaboratively identify local healthcare needs in order to advocate for change. “Quick fixes are really hard to come by in a system that is resistant to change,” said George Abbot, former Minister of Health, while also echoing suggestions for improvement from other panellists that included re-examining the scope of practice of many healthcare professionals.
Compensation and the mental health of healthcare professionals – paramedics in particular - were a recurring theme, and multiple suggestions were made to improve primary care through a reconsideration of administrative burdens, ease of accreditation for internationally trained doctors and increased use of pharmacists and nurses.
Delegates will have an opportunity to ask Minister Dix further questions at tomorrow’s Cabinet Town Hall session.