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Specialists join forces to push B.C. for same recognition as family doctors

Published

2 years ago

September 23, 2022

Specialists ranging from cardiologists to pediatricians and orthopedic surgeons are pushing the British Columbia government to alleviate backlogs that have worsened wait times.

Their stance comes as the head of the Canadian Medical Association says it’s time for innovative solutions to address the same problem across the country.

Twenty-six doctors sent an open letter Wednesday to Health Minister Adrian Dix, saying they want an urgent meeting with him due to a “crumbling” health-care system that is leaving them “exhausted and demoralized.”

By Thursday, 135 specialists had signed the letter, which was uploaded to the Consultant Specialists of BC website.

“Patients are getting sicker and dying on our wait-lists,” says the letter, which outlines examples of the effect on patients, including one who experienced sudden hearing loss and permanently lost their hearing after waiting too long to see a specialist.

It says one million patients in B.C. are waiting to be seen, based on data from the Consultant Specialists of BC, which surveyed members in August.

Dr. Chris Hoag, a North Vancouver urologist who signed the letter, said a broad base of specialists joined forces to pressure the government to act because they’re burned out while trying to see more patients that have become sicker.

“I do everything I can to keep that wait as short as possible. But you know, there are times when I have a huge load of patients waiting for cancer surgery, and I can’t sleep because I don’t know how I’m going to get them all done in a time frame that is appropriate.”

Unlike family doctors, who have recently received temporary funding of $118 million to offset overhead costs, specialists who run practices that also amount to small businesses have had nothing, Hoag said.

“It’s been incredibly distressing to specialists to see that there has not been conversation about the same issue shared in specialty care,” said Hoag, president of Consultant Specialists of BC.

“Primary care is an absolute disaster and definitely needs to be fixed,” Hoag said about the lack of family doctors, adding that delays referrals to specialists, potentially worsening patients’ condition to the point they end up in an emergency room.

“Then they’re taking up hospital beds, which takes away from surgical procedures because we have nowhere to move the patient to out of the (operating room), so we can’t do the surgery. So, it’s a huge domino effect that’s happening and not just isolated to primary care issues.”

Even patients with a general practitioner are lingering on wait-lists for an average of 10 months and sometimes up to two years, he said.

Hoag said Dix had not responded to the letter.

The Health Ministry said the minister was not available for an interview, but it provided a written statement.

All doctors, including specialists, have ways to get their concerns addressed through Doctors of BC, the association that represents them in talks with government, the statement says.

Doctors of BC said a so-called physician master agreement that expired in March is currently being negotiated with the government on behalf of all doctors but that the needs of specialists go beyond its scope and can’t be addressed through compensation.

“Rather, in many cases addressing specialist wait-lists can only be accomplished through improvements to health authority infrastructure, processes and resources such as increasing (operating room) time,” it said in a written statement.

“We fully intend to advocate specialist issues, and work with Consulting Specialists of BC and the different specialty sections,” the association said, adding its board would determine when that would happen.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said specialists in all provinces and territories are dealing with a “collective crisis” as millions of patients wait for their services.

“Primary care and specialty care are all being overwhelmed at the same time,” he said, adding the letter by specialists in B.C. points to major, unprecedented issues involving multiple problems like overcrowded and closed emergency rooms in various jurisdictions due to a lack of nurses and other health-care providers.

“These sorts of letters were not going out even mid-pandemic,” Lafontaine said of the stress that health-care providers are under.

“There’s a human cost for patients, but there’s also a human cost for providers showing up to work day after day with this high degree of tension.”

Lafontaine said collaboration is needed by provinces and territories to find innovative solutions like more virtual and team-based care, not merely more requests for funding, which has been increased in all jurisdictions.

“I don’t think a lot of provinces have leaned into team-based care, making sure that the care is distributed to the right people at the right time and in the right place,” he said.

“Places that are decreasing administrative burdens on physicians are definitely creating more time for physicians to provide care,” he said of doctors having to repeatedly submit information to multiple regulatory agencies.

Lafontaine called for an emergency meeting between federal, provincial and territorial governments to create a long-term, sustainable system.

He said the association will be gathering this fall with other advocacy groups, including the Canadian Nurses’ Association and patient advocacy groups, to discuss how best to address similar needs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2022.

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

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Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

9 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

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Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

10 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

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Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

11 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

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