It certainly doesn’t present the long-term solution that everybody was hoping for, but, considering the option of no help at all, the $200,000 funding announcement last week for the South Okanagan General Hospital will have to suffice.
Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater said the money forwarded to rural hospitals across British Columbia will allow hospitals like the one in Oliver to pay physicians incentive funds so 24-hour emergency room care will be available.
The money can be used in a variety of ways, but the key goal is to ensure hospital emergency rooms in rural hospitals are staffed by at least one physician around the clock.
The funding announcement is part of the province’s Rural Emergency Enhancement Fund (REEF).
“This will get us through the remainder of 2012 and there’s no question is a short-term program,” said Slater. “But I promise as the local MLA to ensure this funding is made continuous to ensure citizens of the area have continual 24-hour care.”
To date, families in 36 communities across British Columbia will benefit from increased funding to strengthen public access to emergency services, said Slater. The province announced $10 million in July 2011 to provide financial assistance of up to $200,000 a year for rural, fee-for-service physicians who commit to ensure reliable public access to emergency services is maintained at their local hospital. This is a continuation of that funding, said Slater.
“This is short-term and does get us through 2012 and I’ll be doing everything I can, along with Interior Health and the Ministry of Health, to find a long-term solution to ensure we can provide physicians for 24-hour emergency room continual care moving forward,” said Slater.
Lorraine Unruh, acute area director for Interior Health, says Interior Health is very pleased with the funding announcement as local citizens demand around-the-clock emergency care at the Oliver hospital.
“This will allow us to have programs in affect for things like having a second physician in the emergency room when one doctor is already working with an emergency patient,” she said.
The money will also be used to act as an incentive to attract local physicians to the hospital in Oliver who might otherwise go to Penticton.
The funding formula for the $200,000 allows for an extra 12 shifts every three months for physicians working in the emergency room.
What this funding really does is provide a little breathing room to what has been a serious problem at the hospital in Oliver for far too long. But money talks and this additional funding will ensure 24-hour emergency room care is available for the rest of this calendar year.
What medical professionals, the public and, ultimately, Interior Health, the Ministry of Health and the provincial government must continue to work diligently on is providing stable funding and programs to ensure this kind of stability can be provided in the long term.
Short term funding announcements aren’t good enough when it comes to healthcare.
There is a very large population of seniors living in the Osoyoos and Oliver areas and they demand and deserve 24-hour emergency room care.
It’s up to politicians and medical professionals involved to make sure short-term solutions aren’t acceptable and long-term funding is available and the sooner the better.
