by George Le Masurier | Mar 30, 2018
In presentations to the Island Health board of directors, three Comox Valley seniors advocacy groups criticized the recent residential care bed RFP, said Island Health doesn’t provide us with an equitable share of resources and exposed mistreatment of seniors and a new hospital that isn’t clean
Judging by the “surprisingly” large number of Comox Valley citizens who flooded the Crown Isle ballroom March 29 to hear their concerns presented to the Island Health board of directors, there is a widespread belief that the health authority has shortchanged the north Island, especially in health care for seniors.
Five community groups made presentations to the board, which did not speak or respond, except for brief remarks by chair Leah Hollins.
Three of the five presentations bemoaned gaps in health care for seniors, one asked Island Health to give back land it owns in Cumberland and another asked the board to include breathing clean air as a criteria in awarding Community Wellness Grants.
Here is a summary of the three presentations relating to health care.
Comox Valley Elders Take Action
Jennifer Pass, representing more than 70 members of this group, criticized Island Health for how seniors are treated at the Comox Valley Hospital, the cleanliness of the hospital and for its slow response to a critical lack of residential care beds in the region.
Pass recounted the story of an 88-year-old woman, an avid gardener, who experienced serious hand pain and, on the advice of friends, called an ambulance at 7:30 p.m. to take her to the hospital. She waited 14 hours, until 10 a.m. the next morning, before a doctor told her she had arthritis and lectured her on wasting ambulance time for such a trivial matter.
But a second opinion the woman sought later revealed she actually a severe nerve condition relating to her spine. She’s been scheduled for neurosurgery this summer.
Pass also told the board about an 88-year-old woman who experienced a possible Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA — a mini-stroke) and arrived at the emergency department with blood pressure of 185. She was told she “wasn’t a spring chicken anymore” and that she was wasting the ER’s time.
It was later determined by her own doctor that a conflict between two of her drug prescriptions had caused the problem.
These two anecdotes showed that hospital medical staff are “making assumptions about people’s health and diagnoses based on their age … and the elderly are being treated with disrespect,” Pass said, “as if their medical conditions aren’t important.”
Decafnation has received numerous similar reports of mistreatment, which have been reported in a series of articles and as recently as this week.
But Island Health CEO Kathy MacNeil told reporters after the meeting she hasn’t heard of these or similar incidents. That’s surprising from the CEO because people have filed complaints through the official VIHA process.
FURTHER READING: Island Health CEO disappointed by poor treatment of elderly
Pass also commented on the lack of cleanliness in the hospital. During a visit for day surgery, she tried to use one bathroom that had feces on the seat, and other bathrooms that were also filthy.
She was told the dirty bathrooms were a consequence of having so many elderly patients awaiting placement in residential care who were incontinent.
“Seems like the preconditions for a perfect storm,” Pass said.
Pass cleaned one bathroom herself. She also observed beds that hadn’t been cleaned or remade for days.
Sources have told Decafnation that the hospital is generally dirty — dirtier than St. Joseph’s Hospital ever was. They said the uncleanliness is a result of the inefficiencies of public-private partnerships (P3), where housekeeping is contracted out and not as closely managed.
FURTHER READING: Dissecting a a P3 — Part 1
Pass also criticized the recent Request for Proposals to build “up to 120” additional residential care beds that Island Health hopes to open sometime in 2020.
“That’s too long to wait for new beds,” she said.
In response, Island Health board chair Leah Hollins said, “Bad news is good information. It’s good to hear these stories.”
Power of 5
Melanie Olson spoke on behalf a group of five “frustrated” family caregivers who are trying to keep their loved ones who are suffering with dementia at home.
Olson said their group shares the distress of more than one million unpaid, family caregivers in British Columbia, but with the added frustration of accessing too little support services provided by Island Health for the Comox Valley.
She noted that people over age 65 comprise a higher percentage of the Valley’s population than Victoria, and that it’s nearly 50 percent higher than the provincial average. And, that demographic is growing rapidly.
Yet, residential care beds and support services for family caregivers lags most other communities.
The shortage of residential care beds in the Comox Valley, which Olson estimated at a minimum of 160 beds, is only one of the factors plaguing caregivers.
But the experience of trying to get a loved one onto the list for a residential care bed can be long and frustrating. It’s at least a 12-month wait list, and the patient must not only meet the “complex care” requirement, but must also exceed the care that Community Health Services (formally called Home and Community Care) are able to provide.
But the lack of access to Adult Day Care (ADC) programs and respite beds is just as concerning for Olson’s group.
Respite beds give caregivers a chance to take an extended break (up to two weeks) from the 24/7 job of caring for loved ones. There are only three publicly subsidized respite beds in the Valley and one is not secure enough to accept dementia patients.
That leaves two for a large population of caregiving families. Caregivers are entitled to five weeks respite a year, but they don’t get it. Last time one caregiver needed respite, the entire next year was booked by the end of December or early January. A shortage of beds, means caregivers have to schedule respites too far in advance.
There is one private respite bed available at $223 per day, which most families cannot afford.
The situation is similar for ADC programs, where caregivers can take their loved ones for one or more days per week. But multiple times are virtually unavailable to due the area’s large demand. There’s a two-month wait list just to get ADC for one day per week.
Olson told the board she was disappointed the RFP for “up to 120” new residential care beds doesn’t include any requirement for ADC programs or respite beds.
Olson also asked the board for more access to home support services. She said the home support policy is to provide 120 hours, but only provides about 20 hours in the Comox Valley.
She said funding more caregiving training programs and providing practicum opportunities at Comox Valley facilities could help ease caregiver stress, which has reached the breaking point in many cases.
In an August 2017 report, B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie said 31 percent of unpaid caregivers were in distress in 2016, the highest in Canada.
Board chair Hollins said in response that “there’s no question we need to put more dollars into the community.”
Seniors Voices Comox Valley
Peggy Stirrett spoke on behalf of a grassroots seniors advocacy group that has collected data from a broad spectrum of community inputs to put a big picture perspective on a local crisis.
Stirrett’s PowerPoint presentation used data to show that the demand for seniors health care and related services has already outstripped local capability and is destined to get worse.
She told the Island Health board that the RFP for “up to 120” new residential care beds does not adequately address the Comox Valley’s demographics or the rate at which the population will grow.
The group’s data suggests there is an urgent need for up to 506 additional residential care beds.
Seniors Voices chart shows the Comox Valley has a higher concentration of seniors
Therefore, building “up to 120” beds by 2020 will neither solve the problem for seniors needing complex care facilities, reduce the distress of family caregivers or diminish the overcapacity problems afflicting the Comox Valley Hospital.
Stirrett said the Comox Valley has a higher concentration of low income households than the provincial average and a higher percentage of them are low income seniors. We also have almost 13 percent more people over the age of 75 than the Greater Victoria area.
But, Stirrett said, “the Comox Valley gets less than its fair share of the resources.”
She plugged data into two different formulas used by the provincial government for calculating a community’s need for residential care beds.
In the first formula, based on 75 beds per 1,000 people aged 75 and over, the Comox Valley should have 525 residential care beds, but has only 374 available.
Calculated as a percent of of the age 75 and over population, the Comox Valley has only 5.4 beds while Victoria, with a lower concentration of over 75 population, has 12.6 beds. The Valley’s ratio is the lowest on Vancouver Island.
“By any calculation we could develop,” Stirrett said, “an equitable allocation could be anywhere between 151 and 506 additional beds … This suggests that 120 additional beds is not enough ….”
She said the group is alarmed by wait times for residential care beds of a year or more and a hospital operating at 138 percent capacity.
“We can only imagine how difficult an experience this is for those seniors who are directly affected … and how much the uncertainty adds to their anxiety,” she said.
Stirrett implored the board to add more residential care beds immediately, even considering using St. Joseph’s capacity as an interim solution.
They also asked Island Health to develop a long-term residential care bed plan for the Valley that addresses the equity issue and takes our unique elderly demographic into consideration.
Finally, Stirrett asked the board to publish information specific to our local area on a regular, timely and transparent basis to help community groups assist seniors with their healthcare needs.
FURTHER READING: Decafnation series on the Comox Valley Hospital; Island Health RFP for residential care beds; The Views considering a bid for more beds
by George Le Masurier | Mar 30, 2018
Without public notice, Island Health holds its March board meeting a day early in Victoria, doesn’t address Comox Valley Hospital issues at “public forum” in Courtenay. But seniors health care advocates make passionate pleas for more resources
Those among the several hundred people who packed the Crown Isle Ballroom yesterday (March 29) expecting to attend a meeting of the board of directors of the Vancouver Island Health Authority (Island Health) came away confused.
Those in the standing-room-only audience hoping to hear the Island Health board address well-known problems at the Comox Valley and Campbell River hospitals, and perhaps announce some bold corrective measures, came away disappointed.
Yet, everyone left inspired by five community groups who spoke passionately, and pleaded with the board to serve the Comox Valley more equitably.
FURTHER READING: Pleas for better seniors care, supportive housing and clean air
The confusion arose because Island Health advertised the March 29 event on its website as a regular, official board meeting. It was not.
The board of directors actually met the day before, March 28, in Victoria, without any public notice on its website, probably breaking the government’s own rules on transparency.
Screen shot taken from the Island Health website at 3:53 p.m. March 29
There was no notice by Island Health that the March board meeting would occur at any time other than March 29, or in any other location than Courtenay.
When Decafnation contacted board liaison Louise Carlow via email after the meeting about the lack of public notice, she did not respond. Government workers are off now for the long Easter weekend holiday.
The only director to utter even a sound in Courtenay was board chair Leah Hollins, who opened the meeting by looking over the crowd spilling out into the Crown Isle lobby and saying:
“Fair to say, we weren’t anticipating this many people.”
After all the publicity given to the hospital’s poor planning, overcapacity, long emergency waits, staff shortages and low employee morale, she shouldn’t have been surprised. It would have been surprising if there wasn’t a large turnout.
Concern about the performance of our hospital and how Island Health has underserved the north Island runs that high.
Perhaps the board did fear a large gathering, which might explain why they held their official board meeting the day before in Victoria without any public notice, and did not adhere to their published agenda.
The meeting bypassed the agenda it posted on its website — most notably not allowing any time for questions from the floor — and launched into informative presentations by north Island Medical Health Officer Dr. Charmaine Enns, Island Health CEO Kathy MacNeil and five community organizations.
Not once did Hollins or MacNeil discuss problems at the Comox Valley or Campbell River hospitals, except at the tail end of the CEO’s report when she called the issues, which were first raised in a series of articles on Decafnation, as “growing pains.”
All that was missing in Island Health’s attempt to downplay issues that are having a serious effect on the lives of their employees and patients was a chorus of happy hospital workers smiling behind them on the podium.
Ironically, MacNeil inadvertently pinpointed the source of problems by noting that only about 15 percent of the people who at the two North Island Hospitals were consulted in the design process.
The 300 people MacNeil said were involved in the design process — out of more than 1,900 staff and doctors — were mostly senior managers and physicians. The few frontline workers who were consulted have told Decafnation their input obviously wasn’t heard or was ignored.
But while the board chair and the CEO shied away from addressing problems head-on in public, several of the presenters were more direct.
Jennifer Pass, representing the Comox Valley Elders Take Action group, told the board that CVH staff are disrespecting people based on age, and recounted two personal stories in support.
Pass also criticized the lack of cleanliness in the hospital. She shared a personal experience in the hospital where she saw beds left unmade for days and filthy bathrooms. Her observations coincide with those of several staff members who have spoken with Decafnation.
On health care for seniors, Pass said 2020 was too long to wait for new residential care beds. Island Health has issued a Request for Proposals to build “up to 120” new complex care beds, which MacNeil estimated would be opened “sometime in 2020.”
That concern was also voiced by Peggy Stirrett of the seniors advocacy group, Senior Voices Comox Valley.
Stirrett said the “up to 120” beds sometime in 2020 is not enough, and not soon enough.
“By 2020, (the Comox Valley) will need 100 or more beds than that, and by 2021 we’ll be back in the same situation as today,” she said.
Screen shot of agenda as posted on the Island Health website
Seniors Voices believes there is a current need for between 151 to 506 additional residential care beds based on several formulas used by the government itself.
“The Comox Valley has not received an equitable share of the resources,” she said.
Melanie Olson, spoke on behalf of the Power of 5, a group of “frustrated caregivers trying to keep their loved ones (with dementia) at home as long as possible.”
Olson told the board that Island Health’s support for family, unpaid caregivers is lacking, especially considering that they save the province an estimated $3.5 billion per year.
Hollins skipped over the 10 minutes set aside for questions from the floor (as specified in the agenda) and then abruptly closed the meeting with a tone-deaf remark.
“It’s clear there are many issues in health care. We’ll never be able to meet them all,” she said. “But we appreciate hearing from you today.”
by George Le Masurier | Mar 28, 2018
The Vancouver Island Health Authority (Island Health) board of directors will hear several presentations today from north Island residents.
By holding its March 29th meeting in Courtenay, the board has given local residents an opportunity to voice their many concerns, which this website first brought to the public’s attention in a series of articles in January.
The board’s published agenda states that 60 minutes have been set aside for public presentations, but does not specify which community applications to make a presentation have been accepted.
But we can speculate.
The board is likely to hear about the lack of long-term care beds in the Comox Valley, problems caused by overcapacity at both the Courtenay and Campbell River hospitals, long waits in the emergency department and perhaps even a plea to reactivate portions of the now-closed St. Joseph’s General Hospital to mitigate some of these issues.
Some residents may express concern about the consequences of how poorly Island Health planned their new hospitals and have neglected regional senior care services.
We may even hear a plea from the Equal Access Comox Valley group to deny The Views at St. Joseph’s any of the proposed 120 new long-term care beds — perhaps any public funding at all — because the religious-based facility does not allow Medical Assistance in Dying on its property.
FURTHER READING: No MAiD, No Contract!; Decafnation’s hospital series
Concerned citizens should not expect that board members or executives will respond to public questions or presentations at this meeting, at least in any meaningful way. Precedent indicates that if the board responds at all, it will be through written statements or private meetings.
Nearly three months after Decafnation exposed that hospital planning failures have lead to staff shortages and other problems causing low staff morale at the Comox Valley Hospital, nothing has been done to address the issues.
Frontline workers have received no acknowledgement of the problems they face or asked their input on how to resolve issues, including hospital design flaws and inefficient Island Health procedures, that have left them overworked and frustrated.
The response from hospital management and Island Health executives has been that these problems are “normal,” and will work themselves out over time.
Meanwhile, the CVH reached a new record high in overcapacity last Friday with 178 admitted patients.
That’s 49 more patients than the 129 opened beds for which the hospital is budgeted and staffed. And it’s 25 more patients than expected by 2025, when hospital planners expected CVH to reach maximum capacity of 153 admitted patients.
Emergency room staff — where reports of wait times have stretched up to eight hours — are often on the front line of some of these problems.
One Decafnation reader wrote that the experience of her husband at CVH “was appalling, total ignorance of his recent heart surgery.”
The man had a heart attack and was treated well at CVH initially, and at Royal Jubilee Hospital where he had five-vessel bypass surgery.
But when he started bleeding into the bowel from Equis after his return home and went to the CVH emergency, he waited five hours to see a physician, and then kept on a stretcher (cubicle with a curtain) in the day surgery area for eight days with no shower and forced to use a commode.
Then he was transferred to the emergency overflow area and provided with a bed, but no shower, and discharged two days later.
“Sleeping on a stretcher, not being able to shower for 10 days and having to use a commode is not acceptable care,” said our reader.
The Island Health board meeting is open to the public. It starts at 1.30 p.m. in the Crown Isle Resort ballroom located on ClubHouse Drive.
by George Le Masurier | Mar 12, 2018
The Vancouver Island Health Authority (Island Health) has reissued a Request for Proposals to add 120 new beds for patients requiring a complex level of care in the Comox Valley.
Island Health says it hopes to award contracts for the new beds in early May and expects they will open for patients sometime in 2020.
That’s good news for people needing complex care, and especially for their caregivers. The glaring and long-time shortage of complex care beds in the Comox Valley has distressed caregivers, and resulted in some horrific tragedies.
It’s also good news for Comox Valley Hospital workers. A workforce staffed for 129 admitted patients has been dealing with serious overcapacity issues — up to 170 admitted patients — since the new hospital opened in October.
Most of those 30-40 unexpected patients no longer need acute care, but remain in the hospital because of the Valley’s shortage of complex care beds.
It’s a problem that dates back many years, but surprisingly the new Comox Valley Hospital was planned as if it would never have patients needing an alternate level of care.
That strategy might have worked, or at least diminished the current problems at CVH, except Island Health was slow in issuing a Request for Proposals and awarding the contract for new or replacement beds. And then, it cancelled the RFP completely.
On Sept. 30, 2016, Island Health issued an RFP for 70 new or replacement residential care beds for the Comox Valley. The press release said contracts would be awarded in April 2017 and opened in 2019.
But, on Aug. 3, 2017, Island Health cancelled the RFP, shortly after its board of directors decided the four hospice beds located at St. Joseph’s should be moved to a secular facility that could provide Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
Tim Orr, the director of residential services for Island Health, told Decafnation that St. Joseph’s policy not to permit MAiD was one of several factors in the decision to cancel the 2016 RFP. The new RFP requires at least one proponent to provide end-of-life services including MAiD, and house six hospice beds.
FURTHER READING: Island Health RDP press release
What’s in the RFP?
The Island Health press release says the 120 new beds may be awarded to more than one proponent, and than the number of new complex care beds awarded to each proponent will be determined in the evaluation of each proposal.
“Should the RFP result in more than one successful proponent, at minimum, one of the selected proponents will be required to provide for six community hospice care beds and allow for the provision of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) on site,” the release said.
And successful proponents must provide 3.36 direct care hours per resident day, as per provincial standards.
The release also states that the “new RFP includes flexibility for greater capacity in the future, opportunities for a full spectrum of complex care including innovative models of dementia care ….”
Community reaction
The community has responded to the Island Health announcement with cautious optimism.
Our sources believe that 120 new beds will relieve the stress on the new Comox Valley Hospital, but will not provide a complex care bed for everyone in the Valley who needs one.
Because there are so many nonpaid (mostly family member) caregivers in the Valley, and because only the most in need of acute care get into the hospital, that the Valley may actually need more than 150 and closer to 200 complex care beds.
Our sources expressed disappointment that the announcement didn’t include an increase in respite beds, adult daycare programs or resources for Community Health Care, a program designed to keep people at home as long as possible.
Will St. Joseph’s apply?
The wording of the RFP press release appears to open the door for The Views at St. Joseph’s to apply for additional beds without agreeing to provide MAiD on site, which is something the Catholic church opposes on ethical grounds.
The Views at St. Joseph’s already provides publicly-funded complex care beds that are mostly occupied by patients with dementia. The Views board of directors has outlined a vision for a dementia village” similar to Hogeweyk in the Netherlands.
A private operator in Langely, B.C. just announced that it will open Canada’s first “dementia village” next year. Verve Senior Living says the project will cost patients between $6,000 to $7,500 per month, but is open to working with the B.C. government to make residence more affordable.
What’s next
Island Health will accept proposals until May 11, but does not say when the contract or contracts will be awarded. It generally takes a minimum of two years from awarding a contract to its completion.
The Island Health board of directors will meet at 1.30 p.m. on March 29 at the Crown Isle Resort ballroom. People may ask questions in advance to be answered in written form at the board meeting, or make 10-minute presentations to the board if they apply by March 15.
In other North Island Hospitals news, Dr. Jeff Beselt has resigned from his position as the Executive Medical Director for the Comox Valley Hospital and Campbell River Hospital. According to a Island Health spokesperson, Dr. Beselt stepped down to focus on his family. Island Health named Dr. Jennifer Grace, of Campbell River, the interim EMD for the region, which includes Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox and Mount Waddington/Strathcona. You can view a farewell video for Dr. Beselt here, and read reviews of Dr. Grace here.
FURTHER READING:Canada’s first “dementia village;”BC retirement home chain sold to murky Chinese ownership group
by George Le Masurier | Jan 31, 2018
The independent analysis of the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA, or Island Health) delivered by external consultants Ernst & Young two weeks ago concluded that an electronic health records system implemented at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) was “not properly planned or implemented.”
Consultants also found that the poorly functioning system, known as iHealth, was additionally challenged by “a general climate of distrust in the hospital.”
The Ernst & Young report reinforces the findings of another external analysis conducted by the Vector Group in early November that described the atmosphere at the Nanaimo hospital as “toxic,” an environment caused by management bullying its workers, retaliation and secrecy.
FURTHER READING: The Ernst & Young report
While those two analyses refer to NRGH specifically, north Island health care workers describe similar situations at the new Comox Valley and Campbell River hospitals.
After a two-month investigation involving multiple interviews with more than 30 different sources at both hospitals, Decafnation has found the facilities were not properly planned and that employees feel the concerns they raised during the process were ignored, and that decisions and information were kept secret. And they now fear retaliation for speaking out.
The purpose of Decafnation’s four-part series was to give these employees a voice in the hope that Island Health executives would start to listen to front-line workers and implement a genuine effort to mitigate the problems that can still be fixed.
And the public has a right to know that our communities didn’t get the hospitals we were promised.
FURTHER READING: The four-part series and other health care stories
Decafnation urges the B.C. Ministry of Health to conduct external studies at the two north Island hospitals similar those undertaken at Nanaimo, and to hold Island Health executives accountable.
The top executive of the region that includes the Nanaimo hospital no longer works for Island Health. Yet, all of the top executives involved in the planning of the two north Island hospitals remain in place.
FURTHER READING: Island Health exec sacked
And there’s more that needs to be done.
REVIEW ISLAND HEALTH — An external review should be done of Island Health itself. It’s clear that changes are needed at an organization where such mismanagement is allowed to occur.
RETURN TO LOCAL HOSPITAL DISTRICTS? — An analysis of Island Health might find that a restructuring of regional health authorities could have prevented these problems. The former B.C. Government merged the province’s 52 local hospital districts into five regional health authorities. The Vancouver Island Health Authority is further broken down into five geographic areas. Geo 1, which includes our two new hospitals is massive, extending from Courtenay to the whole north Island and portions of the mainland’s upper west coast.
The province used this same logic to break the large Comox Strathcona Regional District into two smaller jurisdictions, and it has improved local governance.
REVERSE THE P3 REQUIREMENT — The NDP government should reverse the trend toward building all major infrastructure projects in the province under public-private partnerships (P3). The new Cowichan Valley Hospital, which is now in the planning stages, should not be built as a public-private partnership.
Numerous studies have pointed out the dubious benefits of P3 facilities, some going so far as to say they are a bad deal for taxpayers.
FURTHER READING: P3’s double the cost of government borrowing; The hidden price of public-private partnerships
Many of the problems at the two north Island hospitals resulted from private companies pushing decisions during the planning process based on profitability, rather than what would best serve the community or health care workers.
PROPERLY FUND THE HOSPITALS — Planners badly misjudged the necessary capacity at both hospitals. As a result, both hospitals have been overcapacity since they opened and will never be adequate without further expansion. But the low morale among staff could be improved if Island Health properly staffed the hospitals based on reality.
Both north Island hospitals are incurring excessive overtime and most employees are stressed. That’s not a healthy or successful way to run any organization, public or private.
BUILD RESIDENTIAL BEDS ASAP — Island Health’s failure to assess the residential care requirement in the Comox Valley is epic. They don’t seem to know what to do. But those who work in the field of community Health Services know. The Comox Valley needs up to 200 new residential beds immediately.
It will take three years to get a new facility up and running. But with new funding right now, St. Joseph’s could reactivate its award-winning transitional care unit to accommodate the people who need that level of care but who are now taking up more expensive acute care beds at the Comox Valley Hospital. That would help to solve many issues surrounding overcapacity and understaffing.
COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES — Unpaid caregivers and those employed in home support programs need more funding. The Comox Valley needs more Adult Day Care programs and more respite beds.
At least a third of unpaid caregivers (usually family members) are in distress because the province isn’t supporting them with greater access to ADC programs and respite beds. They are burnt out, angry, and they deserve better for attending to their loved ones. Not to mention that unpaid caregivers save the province $3.5 billion per year.
SUPPORT ST. JOSEPH’S — The St. Joseph’s board of directors has an excellent vision to create a Dementia Village and campus of specific care for seniors on its former 17-acre hospital site. There should be no conflict between the Catholic-run facility and the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying law, as 95 percent of patients currently in The Views (St. Joe’s residential care facility) suffer with dementia. And dementia patients don’t qualify for MAiD.
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Taking these actions will move health care in the Comox Valley and Campbell River in a positive direction, and diminish the human toll on workers and patients that bad planning has created.
Those responsible for planning the hospitals that fell short of their promises and the community’s expectations should be disciplined.
And the provincial government must reverse policies from former governments that have fostered these problems.
It’s too late (or too early) to renovate our new hospitals, but swiftly addressing these issues will make the best of our given situation and support dedicated health care workers who continue to act professionally and provide the best patient experiences possible.
