BC cuts

[fergus51]

So how did your hospitals fare? We've lost a bunch of beds. Anyone else as worried as I am about what this will mean for our patients?

[Paprikat]

Well, I have survived, so far. No announcement of whether they are closing my facility yet, but we did have an audit done to see if they would at the beginning of February. Fergus, correct me if I am wrong, but it seems the hospitals they did close in the interior have hospitals that are within 20 minutes of the city? The next hospital for one city is a 20 minute drive to Cranbrook? I am still concerned with the contracting out of our housekeeping and dietary,etc. His promise to open 5000 beds is a total LIE. I am concerned with the shutting down of ER's. It is so ridiculous. It is not a good time for BC, and I fear that he's not done with us, yet.

[fergus51]

No the hospitals they closed aren't within 20 minutes of another hospital. That's what makes me so mad. Most towns in this area aren't within 20 minutes of eachother! Cranbrook and Kimberly are supposed to be close, but in winter you can't convince me that's a 20 minute drive. They left Merrit alone when they're only 45 minutes from Kamloops, but are closing a lot of hospitals that are farther away or turning them into "wellness centersI see us losing a lot of services to the bigger center in our health region.

The rule is supposed to be you can't be more than one hour from emergency care and 2 hours from an acute care hospital. They upped the ambulances budget to pay for this. BUT- this isn't a strict rule, so it's basically meaningless. Even if those hospitals they closed are 20 minutes from another, they haven't increased the beds in the hospitals that are staying open to compensate for the new patients they should be getting. Unfortunately there aren't going to be any beds when the ambulance drops you off. No offense to mainalanders here, but I am starting to think that if you don't live in Vancouver or another large center like Victoria, the gov't doesn't give a rats behind about your care. We already have to ship people out of town frequently, this is just going to make it worse and more of a burden on them.

[fergus51]

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