B.C.’s health minister says the government will continue to support Interior Health as it works to ensure that people have the care they need amid potential staff shortages.
Adrian Dix says if any area of the province is challenged by staff shortages brought on by a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, it will be Interior Health, which has 1,369 unvaccinated healthcare workers, more than the 1,166 who are unvaccinated in Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health combined.
“That is why we will be providing and continuing to provide supports to Interior Health in this period. But people have to get vaccinated. They just do. That is something that we have to work on and address together,” he said.
“We will be there for you just as the healthcare system was there for people in the North, and in Fraser Health, and on Vancouver Island, and in Vancouver Coastal Health.”
Still, he admitted that some services may be altered or curtailed because of staff choosing to ignore the vaccine mandate.
“Diagnostic imaging is one, lab services is another and there will be some impact on surgeries in Interior Health in this week,” Dix added. “We’ll be providing additional supports to ensure that a high level of care continues to be provided.”
“We’ll either have to initially reduce hours in order to address that or provide other staff in the weeks to come.”
As of Tuesday, Oct. 26, all healthcare workers in B.C. had to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Those that remain unvaccinated – 4,090 across B.C. – have been put on unpaid leave with a deadline of Nov. 15 to get their first dose if they want to keep their jobs, unless they have a medical exemption.
They will be allowed to resume working seven days after their first dose as long as they wear personal protective equipment until they get their second dose which must be no more than 35 days after the initial dose.
“Health authorities across B.C. are taking steps to deal with the challenges presented by this. This is, as I say, a necessary step and an important one but we’re also solemn because we know the implications for people and we know why this is a necessary step to protect people in our healthcare system,” Dix added.
“We know the impact on people and on families and we are hopeful and encouraging people to get vaccinated.”
Staffing and capacity is already a major issue in Interior Health, as evidenced by concerns raised by nurses at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. A 70-year-old Kamloops woman died while waiting for care at the ER on Sept. 8, while another 88-year-old woman said she’d rather die at home than wait for care at the hospital.
That led to both BC Liberal MLAs for Kamloops calling on the Premier and the Health Minister to take accountability for the dire staffing situation in Kamloops, which is also impacting rural hospitals in the area.
In a brief statement to NL News, Interior Health said work is being done to ensure that people can continue to get the care they need, but it did not specify what kind of work that is.
Speaking Tuesday, Dix noted that there were 1,528 acute care beds across the health authority that were being occupied. While that is above the total base beds in the region (1,436), he said it is within the capacity of combined base and surge beds (1,842).
“We want, obviously, those numbers to come down. That’s critically important. And this challenge of people who are unvaccinated adds to that [pressure on hospitals],” he said, especially if more patients have to be flown out of Northern Health to other areas of the province for care.
“It’s an immense thing. I can’t tell you the work being done by our ambulance teams, by our nurses, all those involved in patient travel.”
Healthcare system will continue seamlessly: Premier Horgan
Speaking on Monday, Premier John Horgan said the province’s healthcare system will continue seamlessly past the deadline for workers to get immunized.
He says it is because the overwhelming majority of healthcare workers are already vaccinated.
“We need to make sure that people understand that the safest way to protect all of the things that we hold so dear – most importantly our loved ones – is to ensure that those interact with them are vaccinated,” he said.
“We’ve done remarkably well compared to other jurisdictions in the world, Our success rate on the immunization program is absolutely stellar, and I’m confident that we’ll continue to see people getting vaccinated.”
Data from the Health Ministry says 95 per cent of healthcare workers (119,627) were fully vaccinated as of Sunday with another two per cent (2,626) who had one dose.
“I’m confident that with the time that has been made available to health authorities that our health authorities are in a position to ensure that we can continue to provide world class quality care to British Columbians in every setting possible,” Horgan added.
Unvaccinated healthcare workers started unpaid leave today in BC. I’ve just received an updated table from Ministry of Health on vaccine rates. @Interior_Health with lowest vaccine rate and highest # of unvaccinated workers in the province. @RadioNLNews #Kamloops pic.twitter.com/AI5CMzhWF0
— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) October 27, 2021
