VICTORIA, B.C.: Three BC Conservative MLAs pressed the Minister of Health in Question Period today on failures in the healthcare system.

Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna-Mission has drawn attention to the issue of hallways healthcare at Kelowna General Hospital and was recently made aware of recent cases in which patients have died in hallway beds. He asked the Minister of Health how many people have died in hospital hallways across the province on her watch. Unfortunately, the minister declined to answer the question and instead used her time to extol the virtues of the province’s failing healthcare system.

“Hallway healthcare has become shockingly routine under this NDP government,” said Dew. “The NDP government has completely failed to give patients the care they deserve. People are dying without dignity in hallway beds at KGH while more than 50 beds worth of space sits unfinished behind lock and key.”

Claire Rattée, Critic for Mental Health, Addictions, and Housing Supports raised the issue of Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s psychiatric unit being placed on diversion. When units are so overwhelmed and under-resourced that they cannot receive patients, patients in crisis are left with no good options as the emergency department is not capable of caring for them. When she raised this concern to the minister, the minister simply pointed to the amount of money being spent on healthcare and refused to acknowledge that anything in the system is wrong.

“In order for universal healthcare to work, people actually have to be able to access healthcare,” said Rattée. “Increasing the healthcare budget does very little for British Columbians if there are no meaningful results attached to it and things just continue to get worse.”

Brennan Day, Critic for Seniors and Rural Health pressed the government’s claims about patient “attachments” through the Health Connect Registry, calling on the minister to clearly define what counts as a successful attachment, but the minister was unable to reconcile the statistics.

The provincial government says more than 600,000 people have been connected to primary care since 2023 and that 77 percent of British Columbians now have a primary care provider. By the government’s own numbers, that still leaves roughly 1.3 million people without one. That is only modestly below the unattached share implied in last year’s primary care reporting. 

“The government keeps putting out big numbers and expecting applause,” said Day. “But British Columbians are still asking the most basic question of all: do they actually have a primary care provider they can book with when they need care?”

“The healthcare system must be patient centered,” said Dr. Anna Kindy, Critic for Health. “A successful healthcare system is measured by the wellbeing of the people using it and their ability to access care in a timely way, not the amount of money the government is spending.”

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