Consultant Specialists of BC has written an open letter to British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix expressing concerns about one million patients waiting for speciality care. .“We see the decline in Specialist care first hand every day and we are exhausted and demoralized; it is soul-destroying to be unable to provide the Specialty care that BC patients need and deserve,” said the Consultant Specialists of BC in a Wednesday letter..“We request a meeting with you urgently, and that's not a word we use lightly.” .The letter was signed by 26 medical specialists. The specialists are in fields such as orthopaedic surgery, pediatric rheumatology, and radiology. .Healthcare specialists, said the letter, have been “hampered by years of increasing challenges compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.” It said patients are becoming sicker and dying while on wait lists. .The letter went on to say urgent care centres and emergency rooms are being overwhelmed and cannot provide access to specialists. It added increased admissions “strain the already overburdened hospital system, and cost even more in both dollars and patient suffering.” .It goes on to cite examples of how long wait times for specialty care are affecting people. One example offered is a patient with sudden hearing loss who, if seen sooner, would not have developed permanent hearing impairment. .Another example cited is more than 16,000 people waiting for an echocardiogram in Vancouver Coastal Health. It said patients in the Lower Mainland with new cancer diagnoses are waiting two to three months for their first visit with an oncologist. .The letter continued by saying a three-year-old with possible autism is waiting one and-a-half years for a formal assessment, making her patients anxious with no support. Interior BC patients are forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to obtain simple X-rays because local wait times are untenable..The Consultant Specialists of BC said these problems are some of the hundreds, if not thousands, of stories from across the province. This group said the British Columbia government needs “to stabilize and strengthen our Specialty Care infrastructure to support this vulnerable population.” .“Our entire health care system is crumbling, but not enough is being done to improve Specialist patient outcomes or shorten our overcrowded wait lists,” it said. .“If we do not work together to find solutions, Specialty care in this province is going to erode even further.” .This letter comes after the British Columbia government said in April it will address its nursing shortage, not by allowing unvaccinated healthcare workers to return to work, but by making it easier for vaccinated foreign nurses to become registered and licensed..READ MORE: BC to attract foreign nurses, will not allow unvaccinated to return to work.Dix said nurses trained abroad will often wait years to be registered and licensed in what he called a complex, costly, and lengthy process..This procedure requires multiple assessments and document submissions to numerous organizations.
