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Core patient services face deep cuts, NDP says

Provincial government trying to absorb a projected $160-million funding shortfall

By Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun
Residents of the Fraser Health region should prepare themselves for deep cuts to core patient-care services as the provincial government looks to absorb a projected $160-million funding shortfall, the NDP warned Monday.

Diabetes clinics in Delta and Mission, regional maternity and pediatric services, and seniors' aid and mental health programs are all on the chopping block, NDP health critic Adrian Dix said.

Citing a leaked draft document that the government has acknowledged is genuine, Dix said the government is also considering closing operating rooms, reducing the number of elective surgeries, downgrading the emergency ward at Mission Memorial Hospital, and shutting acute-care beds and outpatient clinics.

"We're talking about a serious blow to the long-term health of everybody living in the Fraser Health Authority," Dix said.

Dix said the document was leaked to his party earlier this month. Released to the media Monday, it is a draft communications plan prepared by the Fraser Health Authority that outlines services and programs facing cuts or closure, and how the officials might address public fallout.

Dr. Nigel Murray, CEO of Fraser Health, confirmed the document was genuine, but said it represented ideas that are now "weeks old and, quite frankly, parts of it [the document] are quite misleading to have in the public domain."

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