NDP Taking Pulse of Access to Health Care
Prince George, B.C.- Provincial New Democrat Leader, John Horgan, along with MLA Judy Darcy, will be hosting a public meeting this evening in Prince George to hear if people’s health care needs are being met.
“The government’s been saying they’ve been delivering health care when it’s needed, where it’s needed, and that’s not the story we’re hearing in other parts of British Columbia” says Horgan. He says a recent tour through the Merritt, Logan Lake, Ashcroft, Cache Creek areas, and says the message they heard from those areas is that they are not getting the access to health care when and where they need it.
While he expects to hear from the public how they are receiving health care, he adds there are positive stories to be heard as well “My own personal story of coming through bladder cancer. I had the best treatment possible it was delivered effectively and in a way that saved my life I think that happens more often than not, but there are some tragedies out there and I think it’s a responsibility of not just the health authorities but Government to make sure those tragedies are diminished.”
The local Liberal MLA’s are not taking Horgan’s visit lightly, and have issued an invitation to him to tour the health care investments in Prince George.
“The NDP like to talk about health care but they never delivered for the north and Prince George when they had a chance,” says Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris.
“As an MLA and cabinet minister, one of my proudest moments was seeing the Northern Medical Program become a reality,” says Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond. “This program allowed doctors, for the very first time to be trained here in the North at UNBC. The Northern Health Medical Program made a real and lasting impact on patient care in Prince George.”
The two local MLA’s cite a number of achievements, including the Northern Medical Program which has been expanded to accept 32 students a year, the University Hospital of Northern B.C. the newly completed Learning and Development Centre, the B.C. Cancer Centre for the North,
Health care remains the number one budget item for the Provincial Government and with an aging population, the numbers are expected to rise. Horgan says while there may not be more dollars available for Health care, it may be possible to change the way health care is delivered by using more Nurse Practitioners, especially in smaller communities. He says he plans to speak with practitioners and health authorities to find out what they need “It’s not just about dollars in and dollars out, but delivery of services and I think that speaks to how do you use nurse practitioners, how do you use LPNs and physiotherapists and a whole range of service providers in a way that can be cost effective through primary care, not acute care and that’s (acute care) where all the dollars get sucked up, in the hospital system.”
This evening’s session is set as an open public meeting at the Coast Inn of the North from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m
Comments
How could there be any trouble with healthcare? The liberals said they would fix it along with every resident of bc having a doctor.. Wait, don’t tell me Clark lied to us….lol
There is something wrong when a PG resident has to drive to Quesnel in February for an ultra sound.
The health care system we have in this country is not perfect. But it is far better than the alternative option. We pay higher taxes than our neighbours to the south. We have a reasonable education system, we have a reasonable health care system, and we have a reasonable social program.
If we want perfection we have to pay more taxes. This is the balancing act.
Stupid for Horgan to come out from this position, expecting the population to be so naïve and to fall for the NDP to be able to deliver perfection at no additional cost.
If Horgan wants to form government next time then I expect him to tell us what he will do to fix the problems in the health care system. Tell us specifically how you will fix it. This is like doing continuous studies without coming up with solutions and I for one am tired of it. The opposition has the luxury of sticking their finger in the air and figuring out which way the wind is blowing before telling us what we want to hear. The government is responsible for making decisions that we may or may not like but at least we know where they stand. Time to man up Johnny and tell us what your health care plan is.
Exactly oneup – perennial opposition parties (read the NDP) can moan and groan all day long about ‘this government’ but they never provide realistic solutions to real world problems. It’s pretty easy to be a back seat driver – ‘you should have turned there, you’re driving too fast, you’re driving too slow’. Real leadership actually drives the bus.
And Pee Val, no one north of 16 uses ‘lol’ – it’s embarrassing for you.
VOR, I am over 16 and use it… I know lots that do… So your statement is very ignorant to what really going on.. LOL I am not embarassed at all by using it… you should be embarassed for even mentioning it..LOL
BTW He spoke.. you should really have said “had” instead of “have” as the liberals are slowly destroying all 3 plus our environment.
Problem is with LOL that one never knows what one means.
LOL Lots Of Love
LOL Little Old Lady
LOL Labor of Love
LOL Loads of Love
LOL Land O’ Lakes
LOL Lots Of Luck
LOL Loss of Life (insurance)
LOL Lack of Love (game)
LOL Lowest of the Low
LOL List of Links
LOL Love of Life
LOL Language of Love
LOL Leg of Lamb
LOL Land of Lincoln
LOL Lord of Lords
LOL Learn Online
LOL Live-On-Line
LOL Laws of Life
LOL Loss of Light
LOL Loyal Orange Lodge
LOL Love On Line
LOL Land of Love
LOL Land of Legends
LOL Log On Later
LOL Lots of Lemons
LOL Lots of Licking
LOL Life of Loan
LOL Life of the Land
LOL Lots of Losers
LOL Limit of Liability
LOL Lots of Lust
and many more where those came from.
We have one of the lowest business tax rates in the world, time to elect a government that makes international corporations and businesses pay for the profits they are making here in Canada, and close those damn overseas tax haven loopholes.
The free ride needs to end, we need to have business pay it share of taxes so we can properly fund our health care.
Oh and Gus… what a waste of comment space!
Someone has to much time on their hands… LOL
Finding meanings of acronyms for LOL on the net – 15 seconds
cutting and pasting acronyms on this site – 10 seconds
knowing that someone will have done the legwork for me – priceless.
Too bad we do not have time to attend Mr. Horgan’s pulse feeling episode tonight! I would ask him why healthcare was a complete mess during the NDP decade of rule, about Mike Harcourts broken promise (1990) that PG would have the much needed cancer clinic if elected – only to break the promise by building it at once in Kelowna instead! How about the health care rally in Prince George, people dying in ambulances in Vancouver because of emergency rooms being full to the rim? About ambulances not being able to attend to new calls because they could not inload their patients….I could cite dozens more examples, but this is enough already for anyone to not want to have a repeat ever again.
BTW, we both had to deal with the BIG C in the last five years. We received excellent prompt professional care in Kelowna and here! Thanks and Hugs to everyone! The B.C. healthcare system works very well – we do not want anyone to experiment with it and put it once more on the ropes!
NDP hasn’t ruled in over 15 yrs and so many keep comparing this horrible government to them. We are very deep in debt thanks to the liberals, our province is being sold out by the liberals, healthcare has never been worse, education us taking a beating, our environment is being destroyed thanks to the liberals.. Etc. yeah the NDP of 15 yrs ago sucked..but this government is on super suck.
Well PrinceGeorge, I don’t have to go back a quarter of a century to find examples NDP follies, I only have to go back 4 years to find Surrey Memorial Hospital using the next door Tim Hortons as a temporary ER.
www. theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/hospital-turns-tim-hortons-into-temporary-er-to-handle-overflow-of-patients/article569059/
Ever been there PrinceGeorge? The halls are full of beds with patients because all the rooms are full, it’s a disaster. Our health care system is in such a shambles that even the Vancouver Sun is asking; what is wrong with BC’s emergency health care system?
http: //blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/04/03/what-is-wrong-with-b-c-s-emergency-health-care-system/
Sophic.. The NDP aren’t the ruling party during this fiasco Sophic..unless you meant liberals :)
“NDP hasn’t ruled in over 15 years..” Good..! I’m looking forward to the next 15 years of them not ruling even if it’s not the Liberals. By election time we should know how the Alberta experiment is turning out..!
Ps..lol..!! ROFL..!
I didn’t think I would need to mention that anything bad happening in health care, and other areas, over the last 14 years would be under Lib-Con rule. I could research and post multiple other health care crisis examples if PrinceGeorge would like, just to show that his/her fairy tale view of BC’s health care system being all roses and rainbows is not exactly true.
Haven’t been around in a while but good to see the dipper trolls haven’t gotten any smarter. Could you 2 be anymore insane.
Hey Horgan, where’s your plan to have air ambulances pick up people on our highways and transport them to our hospitals when it’s critical, you know, like they do down south…. all the damn time?
Where’s your plan to have donor organs harvested from north of Hope? Because we know that being an organ donor in the Interior and North, means nothing. C’mon John, yer a politishun, give us some answers. At least the Libs are working on it.
Sorry, couldn’t be at your town hall meeting tonite, got enough BS when you folks ruled the province.
Grizzly.. You enjoy waiting for over 2 years for a knee or hip replacement…because the liberals think it’s great.. Nothing better than having all those on the waiting list living on pain killers.. Isn’t it great how the liberals have no problem feeding seniors slop.. Or people in the hall ways in the hospitals waiting for a room.. its awesome how our kids are spending more time in school buses because of all the schools they closed.. It’s great watching kids with special needs disrupt regular classes as the liberals hacked away so many special needs workers to help these kids.. It’s fantastic the swift way the liberals jumped to finger pointing when the spill happened outside Vancouver in the ocean..
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