By Adam Berls

healthcare

Health Minister says rural communities and North a priority for ministry

Oct 13, 2023 | 2:40 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The new bilateral health deal signed between Ottawa and B.C. has garnered a lot of attention in recent days, including at a meeting of all provincial and territorial health ministers at a conference in Charlottetown. We are getting more details now on what the new health deal will look like and how it will impact Northern B.C.

The $1.2 billion dollar bilateral funding agreement between the federal government and British Columbia was announced on Tuesday, with nurse to patient ratios being a main talking point, but how will Northern B.C. benefit from this new funding? We asked B.C. Minister of Health Adrian Dix and he says that rural communities and the North are a high priority.

“The nurse ratios apply all over the province and disproportionately, our investment and our effort is in rural communities and in particular in the Northern Health Authority. The support for health care workers in the North to recruit health care workers in the North is essentially more than anywhere else or some other communities that are at that level.” – Adrian Dix, B.C. Minister of Health

Opposition Health Critic Shirley Bond says that action needs to come with statements.

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“It’s easy to make those kinds of statements, but we want to see improvements on the ground.” – Shirley Bond, Opposition Health Critic (BCU)

In particular to the North, the Minister said the province has been providing additional support, particularly in emergency rooms and in acute care. Dix also said that the province has added support to support those locums and what are called travel nurses who are working for the health authorities but are working in different sites.

Doctor recruitment and retention is another key part of the new agreement, and the doctor shortage can be felt, with many people who do not have a family doctor, are left having to wait in line at a walk in clinic or the urgent and primary care centre to have a chance to see a doctor. Shirley Bond says that Northern B.C. deserves better.

Perhaps the Minister should come to Prince George and talk to people on the ground, people who are waiting in line at an urgent and primary care center and to nurses who are completely overworked and overwhelmed and to people who can’t get a family doctor … I don’t think anyone is going to take the minister’s word for it.” – Shirley Bond, Opposition Health Critic (BCU)

When it comes to finding out how much of that money will actually come to Northern B.C., we will have to wait and see what the final figures are.

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Twitter: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com