File photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BC ELECTION 2024

ELECTION ISSUES: Kamloops candidates talk health care

Oct 15, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Health care is expected to be forefront on the minds of British Columbians as they head to the polls to cast their ballots in the 2024 provincial election. In Kamloops, approximately 40 per cent of residents are without a family doctor, adding pressure and prolonging wait times at Royal Inland Hospital’s emergency department. Meanwhile, communities like Merritt, Lillooet and Clearwater have seen ongoing closures of their emergency rooms due to staffing challenges.

Once thought to be a hot topic issue, involuntary care is now being proposed by both the NDP and BC Conservatives. It comes as all parties are looking to provide an answer to the difficult question of how to provide health care to those suffering from mental health challenges.

“We are going to increase the capacity not only for the housing for those people but also having treatment now and not having to wait,” said Kamloops-North Thompson Conservative candidate Ward Stamer, speaking to CFJC Today. “In many cases, they are having to wait weeks or months to be able to have fully treated facilities and opportunities for them to be housed. We need to look at a complete review of BC Housing.”

Like the Tories, the NDP have recently announced a similar approach to involuntary care but stressed the importance of wraparound supports.

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“Having improvements to our healthcare system — and housing in general — will automatically have a positive impact but we are also making sure there are as many supports as possible in the healthcare system and in communities so when people are ready to get treatment, it is accessible to them right away,” said Maddi Genn, NDP candidate for Kamloops-North Thompson.

Standing out from the field are the Greens, who note 40-to-60 per cent of voluntary care patients have successful outcomes.

“The other parties are talking about involuntary care, but we already have 20,000 people in involuntary care in B.C. That leads to a very low outcome — 3-to-4 per cent of the population who enters that are going to make a good transition,” said Kamloops Centre Green candidate Randy Sunderman. “We want to put the effort where we are going to get the best results.”

Sunderman also addressed getting more British Columbians doctors through a new model and also looking into the structure of health authorities.

“We are proposing the Dogwood Health Unit Model. In that model, we are proposing that family doctors work in teams with nurse practitioners and administrators. What we are trying to do is create more efficiency and a better work environment for family doctors,” said Sunderman.

The NDP have promised that everybody on the Health Connect registry will have a family doctor by the end of 2025.

“We are creating incentive programs for nurses, especially nurses who are willing to come into more rural communities or come into the Interior. And we are absolutely invested in making sure we are doing everything we can to make health care accessible and affordable for everybody,” said Genn.

The Conservatives have been focused on increasing the ease and speed that foreign trained health professionals can practice in B.C.

“We are also going to try to limit some of the bureaucracy that is in the system right now,” stated Stamer. “We have 47 vice presidents in our health authorities. Alberta, as an example, has nine. We need to be able to get our nurses back on the front lines and not be spending 40 per cent of their time on administrative duties.”

Final voting day in Saturday, October 19.

Over the rest of the week (Oct 15-18), CFJC News will cover the issues of housing and affordability, the environment and climate change, and public safety concerns.