Kaslo and Area Health Care Select Committee responds to Interior Health decision to reduce ER hours
By Nelson Daily Staff
The Kaslo and Area Health Care Select Committee is not totally surprised of the recent decision by Interior Health to change the hours of operation at the Victorian Community Health Centre emergency department after doctors were unable to follow through with a proposed plan for 24/7 coverage.
IH made the announcement Thursday, effective Tuesday, April 1, the new hours at the Kaslo-based health center will be Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exception of statutory holidays.
“We knew something was coming down. . . . We didn’t know just what it was,” Chair of the Kaslo and Area Health Care Select Committee, Andy Shadrack told The Nelson Daily.
“No, this isn’t a surprise,” Shadrack added. “We always knew there was a possibility (the doctor’s plan) wouldn’t work out.”
The recent decision by Interior Health is just another twist in the long fight by Kaslo residents to keep its Emergency Room at Victorian Community Health Centre.
The new daytime only hours were to have commenced January 6, 2014.
But that was postponed when a doctors group asked to explore a “fee-for-service” option rather than “contract compensation model”.
That idea was shelved when IH recently received notification from the physician group that they are unable to move forward with their proposal to provide 24/7 emergency department coverage.
The physicians group found there were not enough physicians to make the proposal viable.
The Kaslo and Area Health Care Select Committee is now recommending the Village of Kaslo endorse the following position and interim objectives at is next regular meeting Tuesday (February 25).
“The Committee acknowledges that all available avenues of exploration for sustaining 24/7 healthcare for Kaslo, at this time, have been exhausted by all parties,” a press release by the Kaslo and Area Health Care Select Committee said.
“Kaslo and Area ‘D’ residents now need to focus on attracting medical professionals, in partnership with the Interior Health Authority, in order to rebuild a sustainable service model for the community.”
The interim objectives we support and recommend to Council are as follows:
- Using the Ross Report as the framework, all stakeholder groups in Kaslo and the general public are encouraged to support recruitment of qualified medical professionals to Kaslo and Area D;
- That a five day working week for physicians be supported in advertising, but not specifically Monday to Friday;
- That efforts to improve paramedical services and skillsets be made a high priority and that financial assistance toward that near term objective be pursued aggressively;
- That the Committee be a direct participant in the discussion of the resultant re-organization of BCEHS resources, nursing human resources and the selection of the new Site Supervisor for the Kaslo Victorian Community Health Centre;
- That the Committee undertake exit interviews with physicians who have either left Kaslo or turned down the opportunity to work here so as to better understand the decisive factors behind their decision.
- That the Committee continues to work on a short term and a long term model, with Interior Health Authority, once current vacancies are filled.
Asked if the residents of Kaslo and Area D are content with having a reduced opening of the Emergency Room at Victorian Community Health Centre, Shadrack replied:
“We’re going to keep working . . . that’s all we can do.”
