B.C. Premier David Eby has appointed a new cabinet – Adrian Dix is no longer health minister, moving over to energy and climate. Josie Osborne moves over to health.According to B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad, the province’s health-care system under Dix was in freefall, reported the Fraser Institute. Dix became health minister in 2017.2016 - 2017 marked the end of "relative fiscal restraint" in B.C., wrote the Fraser Institute. Until recently, health-care spending in B.C. grew by almost 14%. Despite the expenditure, some argue B.C.’s health-care system became worse in terms of access to services and wait times. Based on a 2023 estimate, the province spent more on healthcare per person, $6,045, than any other province outside Atlantic Canada. “Given that Canada remains a relatively high spender among universal health-care countries, B.C. is a high spender in a high-spending country,” wrote the Fraser Institute. In 2023, a typical patient in B.C. waited around 14 weeks for an appointment with a specialist after referral from their primary care doctor - then another 13.7 weeks for treatment after the consultation. The combined 27.7 - week wait was longer than the 26.6 week wait in 2017 and longer than the 10.4 - week wait in 1993, when wait times were first measured in provinces.Struggles in B.C.’s health-care system can’t solely be pinned on Dix, however. Access and wait times are a problem across the country. In Manitoba, it was estimated in 2023 that one in three people left the Health Sciences Centre ER in Winnipeg without seeing a doctor.“Canada is one of the highest spenders on healthcare as a percentage of the economy in the developed world, yet ranks near the bottom for the number of doctors, diagnostic technologies and hospital beds,” wrote the Fraser Institute“And we have some of the longest delays for access to specialist and non-emergency surgical care among universal health-care countries. Clearly, the strategy of higher spending hasn’t worked. What we need is policy reform.”Under Dix, B.C. is said to have experienced a significant drug use problem inside hospitals. A memo in 2023 in Northern Health made national headlines when nurses were told not to impede illicit drug use in the G.R. Baker Hospital in Quesnel, reported CBC.“It asks them not to search through patients' personal belongings and take away substances,” said CBC. “It also tells staff not to restrict visitors if they suspect they are dropping off illicit substances, and also not to confiscate weapons if they are found.”The memo arrived several months after the possession of small amounts of some drugs was decriminalized in B.C. as part of a pilot project, reported CBC.
