The Vernon and Districts Taxpayers' Association has some clear facts for Mr. Tom Christiansen taken from the Interior Health Authority's (IHA) own documentation showing that Vernon Taxpayers and North Okanagan - Shuswap Taxpayers are getting less for their dollar than counterparts in Penticton and Trail:
Vernon Jubilee Hospital (VJH) does not have an MRI machine (magnetic resonance imaging), a vitally important diagnostic tool, yet Penticton and Trail do.
Vernon Jubilee Hospital has 125 beds for a population of 135,000. Penticton has 129 beds for a population of 80,000. If we were funded proportionally we should have 210 beds. Even if you subtract the 40 beds in Salmon Arm and 10 beds in Revelstoke this is still 160 beds. If we had 160 beds the occupancy rate in 2007/08 would have been 87% since the average census was 139, which is exactly the recommended level (85-90%) for patient SAFETY. Instead, at 125 beds, we were an AVERAGE of 11% overcapacity for the whole year.
VJH was code purple with approx 20% overcapacity over 40 times in 2008, as a direct result of inadequate funding for acute care beds. This means the "temporarliy funded" 13 bed short stay unit is full, there are at least 7 patients in hallway beds and there are still at least 4 admitted patients in the emergency room (ER).
VJH has 4 funded operating rooms (ORs) yet Trail, with a pop of 80,000, has 5 ORs. If we were funded at the same level per population we should have 8 ORs. Even if you subtract the two very limited ORs in Salmon this still leaves six. We have been trying to recruit a third Urologist for three years because of unacceptable wait lists to see a Urologist and unacceptable wait lists for urological cancer surgery. Our inability to recruit a third urologist is a direct result of not enough OR time.
Vernon's surgery program in 2007/08 required $5 million for surgical supplies but we are only funded for $3 million. Our surgical program has not received an increase since 2001, not even for inflation or the increased cost of supplies.
Here is a table from the Interior Health Authority (IHA) document which shows the reduction in beds after the IHA was created.
Some highlights:
Our region (North Okanagan-Shuswap) lost 41 beds in 2002. At the same time Penticton's beds increased. Yet our population growth was not only greater than Penticton's at the time but also has had greater growth than Penticton since. The problems with overcapacity at VJH began with this reduction.One important concept that people must understand is that reduction in beds in 2002 was not the same as reduction in beds in 1992. In the early 90's laparoscopic surgery was developed and over the next ten years this allowed surgeries that used to require a hospital bed for a week to be performed as a day care surgery. By the year 2000 most hospitals had reduced the number of beds because, as a result of technological improvements, they actually were not needed.
However, in 2002 our hospital was already running at optimal efficiency and a reduction in beds at this point started to affect patient care because at a reduced level it could not meet the demand and there were no ways to improve efficiency. Now we are code purple every other day as a direct result.
The other important concept is that a residential care bed is not equal to an acute care bed. First of all, they are a lot cheaper and very limited. If someone in a nursing home has any kind of serious medical problem they are sent to emergency. Yes, residential beds decompress patients occupying acute care beds but it is a two way street. There are also significant numbers of sick patients admitted to the hospital FROM residential care beds. This is why, despite increasing the numbers of residential beds, Vernon Jubilee Hospital is still code purple gridlock.
Therefore, it would be wise for Mr. Tom Christiansen and the Hon. George Abbott to pay attention to these facts--facts that are suffered on a daily basis by patients, doctors, nurses and all hospital staff that provide services to patients.
Contact: Tony Stamboulieh 250-260-1082
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