British Columbia’s health minister says she will visit Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) amid mounting pressure over what critics say is a pediatric care crisis at the facility.
It comes after local BC Conservative MLAs Gavin Dew (Kelowna-Mission), Kristina Loewen (Kelowna Centre) and Macklin McCall (West Kelowna-Peachland) pressed the minister to visit the site earlier Monday.
“It is ridiculously irresponsible that this far in the crisis, Minister of Health Josie Osborne has not yet showed up once,” Dew said.
“She has never set foot in Kelowna General Hospital.”
The trio held a news conference outside of KGH Monday afternoon to address the ongoing pediatric ward closure, which has now entered a fifth week. The 10-bed pediatric unit closed on May 26 as Interior Health (IH) struggles to retain an adequate number of pediatricians working at the hospital.
IH has said it was a difficult but necessary decision to close the ward for at least six weeks to protect pediatrician coverage for critical services, such as high-risk deliveries.
All three MLAs told reporters they are being inundated with messages from concerned constituents.
“Our MLA office emails are lighting up,” Loewen said. “It’s constant, it’s the number one issue right now.”
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Macklin added he’s even hearing from people outside of the Okanagan Valley.
“I’ve even had conversations with people that tell me this hospital will take people from as far as a way as you know, the East Kootenays,” Macklin said.
“I mean, this is a major hospital for British Columbia.”
When the opposition party first called on Osborne to visit KGH and frontline staff last week, the minister stated “politicizing this issue was not constructive.”
At Monday’s news conference, Macklin fired back.
“The response from the ministry is just, ‘oh, well, it’s political.’ So what does that mean? They don’t want to talk about it,” Macklin asked.
“We’re working for our constituents. We’re working for the public and I think perhaps the NDP government are losing that view that it’s about the people. It’s not about us. It’s not about party lines.”
Late Monday, Osborne released a statement confirming she would come to the hospital.
“I appreciate the concerns raised around Kelowna General Hospital and take them very seriously,” the statement reads.
“Listening to frontline workers, including physicians, is essential to creating safe, respectful workplaces and improving care for patients. Since becoming Health Minister, I’ve made it a focus to meet with frontline staff and will be in Kelowna in the coming weeks as I visit and meet with staff at hospitals across the region.”
A number of doctors have expressed to Global News they would welcome a visit from Osborne.
Global News reached out to the ministry Monday for an update on a potential visit, but a spokesperson followed up, asking, “Wondering if you can share with us what groups of doctors are asking for the Minister to talk to them?”
Dew said the ministry should be focusing on the crisis itself and not which doctors would welcome a visit from the minister.
“This is absolutely ridiculous and absurd for the ministry to be more focused on hunting down the doctors who are speaking up than actually rebuilding confidence and trust with them,” Dew said.
Pediatricians have long called for changes to the current staffing model that often has one pediatrician on shift at a time.
Felling unheard over the years, many have resigned from the hospital, which has now resulted in the current crisis.
IH said last week it hopes to reopen the pediatric ward as soon as it is safe and feasible to do so but won’t say when that will be.
The health authority said one pediatrician is starting work at the hospital this summer with two more in September, adding that those extra resources will help build towards the ward reopening.
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