Sechelt’s hospital has reportedly been phoning to send patients to Lions Gate as Dr. Kevin McLeod says his workload has reached a breaking point.
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A Lions Gate Hospital physician says he has hit a breaking point with B.C.’s health-care system and is seriously considering resigning from the hospital.
Dr. Kevin McLeod said on social media that he reached his limit after Sechelt called to say patients needed to be sent to Lions Gate. He added, “Well… honestly it’s ridiculous.”
McLeod said this week has been especially difficult and described how his call day load can be unsafe. He said that on a typical call day, he might have 20 to 22 new complex patients and an additional 35 to 40 to 50 people in an office, adding, “It’s not safe.”
In his post, McLeod said specialist consults on complex patients in about 20 minutes can delay urgent care, and he wrote, “Now Sechelt hospital has no physician capacity and…”.
McLeod’s comments come as patients needing neurological care at Penticton Regional Hospital could face reduced access to specialist services after three neurologists resigned their hospital privileges. The resignations followed an Interior Health change introduced last month requiring neurologists to provide on-call services across the entire health region.
Dr. Adam Thompson, president of Doctors of BC, said there are always concerns when doctors leave a medical facility and said the on-call requirements could add pressure on neurologists who are already in short supply. He said the approach would increase workload “without additional support in their communities,” adding there is “a tipping point where you cannot juggle all the balls of neurological cases at the same time.”
With the B.C. provincial election just days away, health-care experts are hoping political parties respond to concerns raised by physicians and other health professionals. B.C. NDP leader David Eby said the party would ensure minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are put into legislation so health authorities and hospital managers are accountable for staffing levels.
In a release, B.C. Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear said ratio legislation represents an opportunity to build on progress, provide greater certainty for patients and nurses, and support planned expansions of ratios in emergency departments, operating rooms, long-term care and assisted living facilities, as well as community and non-hospital care settings. She added that safe staffing must remain a commitment regardless of which party forms government.
B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson said the party will “build a brand new state-of-the-art children’s and women’s hospital right here in Surrey.”
McLeod said the core issue is how the health-care system is managed, arguing that people in high-ranking administrative positions need to run the system better. He said, “We’ve dramatically increased the number of people who are in these admin roles, but I wouldn’t argue we’re running things more efficiently,” adding, “A lot of savings could be had there.”
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