Williams Lake city council continues to call for an external review of Interior Health management at Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
This is even after a call from Health Minister Adrian Dix during the regular council meeting Aug. 13.
Dix appeared via video for the meeting at city hall, to hear from council and respond to questions and concerns around emergency room closures and a lack of access to health care in the community.
He reiterated the many different ways the Ministry of Health, Interior Health (IH) and Cariboo Memorial Health (CMH) are attempting to address the staffing shortages and prevent further emergency room closures.
"There’s no community in Canada with this level of incentive to staff,” said Dix, many of the specific incentives are outlined in a letter Dix sent to city council Aug. 1, 2024. Eligible nurses are being offered $20,000 signing bonuses to fill regular positions in the emergency department at CMH.
He said the province added 6,000 nurses last year, despite the vaccine mandate still being in place at the time. B.C. has since repealed the vaccine mandate for health care workers.
"It's not just that we're beating Alberta, in terms of the recruitment of nurses, we are crushing Alberta," said Dix, noting only two emergency room nurses in all of Interior Health Authority left their jobs because of the vaccine mandate.
He listed a number of measures being taken, and included the big wins the province has made in other ways like increasing the pay rates for and tripling the number of paramedics across the province.
Since February 2024 two new family physicians have come to work in Williams Lake, part of programs which allow the province to direct where they can go.
"Where we have a choice to put doctors, we put doctors in communities like Williams Lake," said Dix. He also said an announcement will be made in the next day or two regarding a new primary and urgent care clinic in Williams Lake.
He said while no further closures are expected of the CMH emergency department during the week, they are currently working to find staff to cover the weekend.
According to Dix's letter to council, 76 shifts were identified as at risk of emergency room diversion between mid-March and mid-July. Of those, 68 diversions were prevented.
Three new nurses are starting in August on regular lines in Williams Lake, but these will only address the latest losses.
"It's a national problem and we're doing better than everyone else, but clearly, that's not enough," said Dix, reiterating the focus on keeping CMH open.
But this did not satisfy the council's calls for an internal review of the administration's culture.
Councillor Joan Flaspohler thanked Dix for the work they are doing and then read from an email city council received from a registered nurse. In the email, the nurse cited reports of bullying, harassment, and racism which were not addressed by the administration as the reason for her resignation.
"It's strong messaging and I think we can't ignore it," said Flaspohler. She asked Dix if there has been or will be an external assessment of the Interior Health administration.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor spoke out later in the meeting, as council discussed how they would respond to Dix's letter.
He said Susan Brown, CEO of Interior Health, responded to their call for a review with a letter which suggested the council was to blame for the staffing issues Cariboo Memorial Hospital is having. He said the city is doing everything possible to support retention.
Rathor said they would not settle for anything less than an independent cultural review of the hospital administration.
