How the BC NDP plans to address long wait times for surgery | Daily Hive

BC NDP

B.C. medical appointment wait times are notoriously long — and have been something that critics have consistently flagged when discussing the BC NDP government.

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, BC NDP leader David Eby made an announcement about how he plans to address some of the long waits, if he and his party are re-elected.

They promised to add eight new MRI machines, 10 CT scanners, and a coordinated regional surgical waitlist.

“Waiting for a scan or surgery can mean living with pain and worrying every day about when you’ll finally get the call. We need to do more to reduce wait times in B.C. With our population growing and aging, we can’t afford to stop hiring healthcare workers and investing in equipment to bring wait times down,” said Eby in a statement.

In the BC NDP’s press release, they said that the wait time a patient faces for surgery depends on which surgeon they were referred to, which can vary between 10 and 50+ weeks.

Eby’s plan is to bring in a coordinated regional waitlist to match patients with capacity across the region.

“It also means patients can choose a specific surgeon, an appointment at their closest hospital, or the shortest possible wait time,” reads the release.

The BC NDP said that the eight new MRI machines and 10 CT scanners will increase the province’s diagnostic capacity by approximately 15 per cent.

According to a recent poll from the Angus Reid Institute, 42 per cent of B.C. voters think that health care is among the most important issues when it comes to deciding which party and candidates they will support.

Eby also said that because the leader of the Conservative Party, Lorne Doerkson, has promised to “slash the deficit and won’t ask the wealthiest earners to pay a bit more,” it “can mean only one thing: deep cuts to healthcare you and your family rely on.”

But the Conservatives have said that they will protect health care funding. They said they will hire and retain more doctors and nurses, help rural medical practices that face the risk of closure, and put $50 million into an emergency fund.

They also said that they will train more doctors in B.C., bring home Canadians who studied medicine abroad, and speed up international credential recognition.

The BC NDP has also promised to “triple” its U.S. recruitment campaign. They also said that since they were first elected, they’ve hired 1,800 specialists, 21 new MRI units, and 15 CT scanners.

The provincial election is on Oct. 24.

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