NDP leader wants to know details of government plans
Byline: Ian Austin, The Province
Mayors and health-care providers reacted with alarm yesterday at proposed Fraser Health Authority cuts, and NDP Leader Carole James asked the premier to release details of how the province's six health authorities will meet a $320-million shortfall.
Mission Mayor James Atebe was shocked to find in the pages of The Province that Mission Memorial Hospital's emergency ward may be closed -- one of several proposals from Fraser Health to meet a $160-million funding shortfall.
"I object strongly to this even being considered, and I'm sure I speak for the council and the people of Mission," said Atebe. "We haven't been consulted. This is not a good thing to read about in the paper."
With the B.C. government facing a budget deficit -- possibly in the billions -- B.C.'s biggest health region -- covering the area from Burnaby to Boston Bar -- submitted a list of proposed budget cutbacks, including closing Mission's emergency ward, cutting back surgeries by seven per cent, and closing or downgrading Fraser Canyon Hospital in Hope.
"I don't understand how this was even an option," said Atebe. "We've only got one bridge that goes across the [Fraser] river. If anything happens to that bridge, this is our community health centre."
Another proposal -- to close residential-care beds -- got the thumbs down from David Hurford of the B.C. Care Providers Association, which represents 120 operators of seniors' care facilities.
"We have an aging society, and we should be looking at expanding, not closing down, care facilities," said Hurford. "These are job creators, and it's more efficient and cost-effective to look after seniors than in an acute-care bed."
In her letter to the premier, James urges Premier Gordon Campbell "to fully disclose the budget shortfalls in every health region in B.C. by publicly releasing all health-care service plans.
"The public has the right to this information. People of B.C. deserve to know if vital public services will be taking a hit due to fiscal pressures during a time when families are struggling with unprecedented economic challenges."
James told The Province that the timing -- the FHA submitted its lists of potential cuts May 13, just one day after the B.C. election -- raises the spectre that the government deliberately misled the public about its budget shortfall.
"It appears that the government wasn't upfront," said James. "These are major attacks to a service that Gordon Campbell said he would protect. It's a huge warning sign for the province."
The premier was making final adjustments to today's cabinet announcement and unavailable for comment, but Health Minister George Abbott responded in a statement:
"Even as we provide record levels of funding, pressures of population growth, our aging demographic and increased use of the health-care system is placing tremendous demands on the system," wrote Abbott.
"We are currently working through the planning phase with health authorities. Let's be clear, operational plans are common business planning documents, which lay out possible options where the health authorities can find savings. In no way are these final plans."
