Letter to Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health , Ottawa

Dear Minister, in recent years I have noticed a deterioration in heath care services here in British Columbia notwithstanding the many capital projects of bricks and mortar. Wait times to see a specialist have increased and wait times for certain surgeries have not improved. My wife and I have personal experience that validate these points. And we have friends who have had similar experiences. Here is a sampling I am aware of :

Over 18 months wait time for colonoscopy causing the family to find other sources for the procedure
An elderly disabled ( vision) male having to travel on two buses from downtown Nanaimo to Parksville to see a doctor , 40 kilometres one way.
An elderly lady suffered an undiagnosed common serious disease ; when diagnosed , too late .
Countless unreasonable wait times for procedures and tests from several friends.
A friend waiting two years for shoulder surgery after seeing the specialist.

The Commonwealth Fund reported on a 10 country health study that ‘7 in 10 primary care doctors in Canada say their patients often experience long wait times to see a specialist, the highest proportion of all 10 countries’.

A recent ( last year) Fraser Institute study of 28 OECD countries had Canada 26 in number of doctors serving in the country. .

Many Canadians suffer many tragic situations in silence , reluctant to speak out. It is time to raise the alarm .

What triggers this letter now is the fact that we have been informed that our family doctor is closing his practice . Two thousand people are suddenly without a family doctor . The details of this are in my letter below to the Honourable Adrian Dix, Minister of Health for British Columbia. I suspect like conditions exist in other parts of the Province. It is the first time in my 77 years I have been without a family doctor.

Minister, I am asking for two things :

I would like to know what measures your Department has in place to monitor heath services in the Country to ensure Provinces comply with the conditions of the Canada Health Act. This year your Ministry of Finance reports that your Government will transfer $40.4 billion in heath care transfer payments to the Provinces . This is a lot of money and the conditions for its payment need to be closely monitored.
I am asking you to initiate a review of the Health Services of British Columbia to see whether what is now happening in health services here complies with the requirements of the Canada Health Act. Specifically , it seems to me that at the very least ‘the reasonable accessibility ‘ provisions of the Act are being violated as highlighted in my own personal experience on Vancouver Island.

The Act clearly states that certain provisions must be satisfied in order for a Province to receive funds under the Act., one of them being ‘reasonable accessibility’.

I am only taking this step after I had written the Provincial Minister and received an unsatisfactory answer; an answer not from the Minister himself but from an employee completely ignoring the main purpose of my letter. I trust I will not suffer a similar fate in writing to you.

We once valued our health care system . In recent years our celebration has turned to disappointment and dismay.

We are counting on you to investigate and inform Canadians .

I will be releasing this letter to the public.

Honourable A. Brian Peckford P.C.
Parksville, BC

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Letter to Honourable Adrian Dix, Minister of Health , Government Of British Columbia,

Dear Minister: I wrote you a letter recently concerning health policy in the Province. Specifically, I am concerned that the Province may be violating terms of the Canada Health Act. You asked a public servant to answer this letter on your behalf.

I find this unsatisfactory. The letter concerned policy and you are the person under our system of Government responsible and accountable for health policy. Your are appointed by the elected Premier and responsible to the Legislature and through it to the taxpayers of the Province. The public servant is responsible and accountable to you, not to the taxpayers of the Province.

With the announced closure of a medical practice in Qualicum Beach at the end of November, approximately two thousand people in the Oceanside area (City of Parksville, Town of Qualicum Beach , Coombs, Errington, French Creek and other nearby areas) will be without a family physician, many for the first time in their lives. The practice has indicated that arrangements have been made with a physician group in Courtenay to accommodate the patients. From Parksville to Courtenay is 74 kilometres one way and is not only outside the Oceanside area but outside the Regional District of Nanaimo in which Oceanside is located. There is no public transit from Oceanside to Courtenay.

In reading the Canada Health Act under which health policy is largely governed, I believe that provisions of that Act are being infringed with the closure of the practice in Qualicum Beach and with the arrangements in Courtenay. It is difficult to see that reasonable accessibility requirements referenced in the Act are being met. The preamble to the Act states: ‘that continued access to quality health care without financial or other barriers will be critical to maintaining and improving the health and well-being of Canadians;’

In the Act itself it says

3 It is hereby declared that the primary objective of Canadian health care policy is to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers.

The condition of universality may also be infringed in this instance.

Unless family physician services have suddenly become unnecessary and that 144 kilometres is considered reasonable accessibility, it is difficult to see that there is compliance with conditions of the Act .

Provinces receive federal financial assistance for health care based upon adherence to the terms and conditions of the Canada Health Act which include other than accessibility, the conditions of comprehensiveness, public administration, universality, and portability. The assistance this year to this Province according to the Federal Government is $5,447 Billion.

Given that you refused to address my concern as it relates to the Canada Health Act and whether its provisions are being met, I shall be writing the Federal Minister requesting a full review of the delivery of health services in the Province with reference to the Canada Heath Act, specifically: is the province complying with the terms and conditions of that Act given the recent downgrading of family physician services on Vancouver Island?

I shall be releasing this letter to the public.

Honourable A Brian Peckford P.C.
Parksville, BC

Response letter from Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, Ottawa,