Image credit: Interior Health

By Victor Kaisar

Interior Health Leadership

Interior Health board standing by outgoing CEO Susan Brown amid calls for early resignation

Jun 19, 2025 | 2:22 PM

KAMLOOPS — The board of directors at Interior Health is standing by its outgoing president and CEO in the midst of calls for her resignation.

Speaking at the June 18 meeting, Interior Health board chair Dr. Robert Halpenny said Susan Brown continues to have the support of the board, even as Kelowna MLA Gavin Dew publicly called for her resignation to “reset an organization in crisis.”

“She’s led the organization through difficult, difficult times during COVID and natural disasters such as wildfires and floods,” Halpenny said. “And just to reiterate, the board fully supports Susan as she completes her tenure at IH.”

In presenting his report, Halpenny also called Brown — who has been president and CEO for the past seven years — an “innovator.”

“You just heard that she’s just opened 12 Urgent and Primary Care Centres,” he said. “She’s also led us through the approval of a cancer centre in Kamloops and new specialized cardiac and stroke services in Kelowna.”

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In April, Brown announced plans to retire at the end of this year, a move that will end her 14-year stint with IH. She joined the health authority in 2011 as the vice-president of clinical operations.

Halpenny said Wednesday that the search for Brown’s replacement is underway, though there is no indication when that process will wrap up. He said Interior Health has engaged the services of recruitment firm PFM Executive Search to find its next president and CEO.

While Brown’s retirement comes at a time when Royal Inland Hospital’s vacancy rate for nursing has decreased, Interior Health has continued to see temporary closures at emergency departments in several rural communities.

The approval of the Kamloops Cancer Care Centre — which is expected to break ground this summer — has also drawn mixed reviews from some politicians and residents.

IH is also currently dealing with the closure of the pediatric department at Kelowna General Hospital. Brown said more than a dozen pediatric patients had been transferred to other Interior Health facilities — seven to Penticton, five to Kamloops and two to Vernon.

Three others were sent to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, which Brown said were for a higher level of care and “would have happened regardless.”

“We continue to meet and look for ways to get the unit reopened again,” Brown said Wednesday. “It’s absolutely our commitment to do that and we do know we have new people coming to Kelowna — new pediatricians over the summer and in September and associate physicians who will extend the reach of the pediatricians.”

In calling for Brown’s immediate resignation as CEO of Interior Health, Dew said he was not convinced that IH would be able to address the issues its facing without “very serious change.”

“It has become painfully clear that the current leadership of Interior Health has lost the confidence of both the people who work there and the people it is meant to serve,” Dew said lst week. “We are in a crisis right now and we cannot wait six months for change.”

While Dew called for Health Minister Josie Osborne to weigh in and “dismiss” Brown if she did not resign, Osborne instead issued a statement expressing her support for the current leadership team at Interior Health.

“At all times — and especially times like this — it is vital that we all work together on solutions, both short-term and long-term,” Osborne said, adding that the Ministry of Health is prepared to provide a neutral mediator to assist with collaboration if needed.

“Attacking individuals publicly does nothing to help move us forward. We remain committed to supporting the dialogue and processes in place, and to building a stronger health-care system that works better for frontline workers and patients.”

– With files from Global BC