News and Analysis: BC physicians give province's health system dismal marks [CMAJ

BC physicians give province's health system dismal marks

CMAJ 2000;163(6):750 See: eLetters

Dr. Graham White, a family physician from Parksville, BC, says he's frustrated with the lack of health care resources in the province. When the Nanaimo Hospital opened 30 years ago, it had 245 acute-care beds. It now has 226, he says, "and during that time the area's population has doubled."
Dr. Graham White: a frustrating lack of resources Parksville News photo

There are now 3195 patients on waiting lists for elective surgery in the area. White says there are long delays for many procedures; patients who need an MRI scan must be referred to Victoria, where the wait is 6 to 9 months. "The bottom line is money," says White. "The acute health care system has been gutted."

White is not alone in giving the health care system poor marks. Doctors in the Vancouver Island city of Nanaimo decided to award "grades" to health administrators, and Dr. Lawrence Winkler, the internist who spearheaded the drive, says the results should make no one proud.

The BC Ministry of Health earned an F, the Central Vancouver Island Regional Health Board received a D and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital was awarded a C-. The group asked 125 physicians with hospital privileges how they rated the performance of the ministry, the board and the administration.

"For a long time we've been struggling with the concept that physicians' voices have been either diluted or deliberately excluded," said Winkler. "We did this to bring some reasonable pressure to bear on the system."

Grant Roberge, chief executive officer of the health region board, says he respects the physicians' concerns and "improvements have to be made." — Daphne Gray-Grant, Vancouver