Following the news of potential pediatric emergency department service disruptions at Kelowna General Hospital for the remainder of the year, a local MLA candidate is calling out the current provincial government.
Gavin Dew, the BC Conservative candidate for the Kelowna-Mission riding, sent out a news release on Saturday following an advisory that was circulated on Friday by the Kelowna Emergency Physician Group.
“Pediatric physicians have been consistently working above the maximum capacity for some time,” reads the advisory.
“Due to staffing shortages, access to pediatricians in the (KGH) emergency department may be limited during certain dates through the rest of the calendar year.”
The advisory added that at the time it was written, there were no pediatricians scheduled for on-call ER consultations or admissions from 5 pm to 8 am on Sept. 16 and 18.
“Every parent knows the emotional weight of sitting for hours in an emergency room holding their hurt or sick kiddo’s hand, waiting to get help,” said Dew in response to the advisory.
“The compassion and competence of the pediatrics team at KGH has gotten all of us through some of our toughest days - and nights - as parents. Pediatric emergencies don’t just happen from 8 am to 5 pm.”
The advisory explained that if there was a disruption to service and a pediatrician was not able to assess patients at the bedside, the patients requiring specialty care would be transported to a different hospital and there would be no new admissions to the KGH pediatric ward.
Interior Health (IH) sent the following statement when asked about the potential service disruptions.
“IH is actively collaborating with the community and local physicians to address these staffing shortages by recruiting additional pediatricians, both locally and through national and international channels,” said Dr. Douglas Smith, Interior Health VP of medicine, in the statement.
“In fact, we have successfully recruited three pediatricians at KGH over the past nine months, which has helped prevent service disruptions until now.”
Dr. Smith added: “Any changes to normal services are made only as a last resort after all efforts to secure physicians or staff have been exhausted. Should adjustments to pediatric care be necessary, any decisions to redirect patients will be made to keep them safe and secure.”
“People in the community who need life-threatening emergency care should always call 911 for transport to the nearest available and appropriate facility.”
