° Not observed 
The proposal that would have Trail surgical doctors paying displaced nurses’ wages in order to maintain OR time at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital has not been well received by the B.C. Nurses’ Union.
While union president Debra McPherson thinks it is a noble offer, she fears that such a solution would weaken public health care in the long run.
“Proposing to fund what essentially amounts to a private clinic within a public facility goes completely against the notion of publicly-funded health care for all citizens, and as such, the BCNU is fundamentally opposed to this offer and the idea it proposes,” said McPherson in a letter to the Times Monday.
Dr. Ian Grant, head of anesthesia, is disappointed in the union’s response but feels he and the other 18 doctors must put up a fight.
“We have no other recourse because (Interior Health) won’t fund it. Ethically, we don’t have any other choice,” he told the Times Monday. “We’d like to maintain a good relationship with the BCNU and ultimately we hope IHA will reconsider and fund (the OR) properly.”
The plan, announced by the doctors last week, came about after five full-time nurses were given displacement notices from their jobs in the surgical department – a reality that OR staff at the hospital knew was coming.
In April, the Trail hospital will move from 19 full-time nursing positions in the OR to 12 full-time and seven part-time. The shift to more part-time staff coincides with the implementation of a seven-day work-week from five.
“Positions are there for all of them in the new rotation,” said IH spokesman Karl Hardt via email Monday.
The health authority’s quest to restructure staffing in the OR is an attempt to cut overtime costs – saving an expected $400,000.
The doctors are willing to pay out of their own pockets to keep the nurses at work because they fear waitlists will surge up – particularly orthopedic surgeries.
One orthopedic surgeon in Trail has more people waiting for an operation than the entire Penticton Regional Hospital’s waitlist, said DeGreef, referring to about 640 people waiting at KBRH compared to 220 in Penticton.
In addition, they are worried that fewer full-time positions will result in an unstable number of nurses and anesthetists to service the operating rooms, and ultimately, that the Trail hospital will lose its regional status.
Andre DeGreef, chair of the surgery department, said the news was announced prematurely and the doctors are now looking into the logistics of such a proposal.
“We’re not sure whether it’s legal to pay for the nurses,” said DeGreef, indicating that the Canada Health Act declares that health services can’t use “extra means to change the system.”
“We all really strongly believe in the Canada Health Act, we’re not trying to privatize medicine at all,” said DeGreef.
“If you were to take it away from the people, maybe 30 per cent of the population can afford private medicine. We are not trying to jeopardize the Canada Health Act; its system is in place to service the people, that’s what makes Canada different from all the other countries.”
There are more expenses than just salaries when it comes to the OR’s operation, he said, clarifying that the doctors are only offering to cover the nurses’ salaries.
Other costs involved in keeping the RNs at work in the OR include keeping the rooms clean and sterilizing equipment, for example, he said.
Negotiations will have to occur with the health authority, where aspects like the length of time the doctors would pay to keep the nurses on board would be explored.
“I’m relaxed about it because we have to negotiate,” said DeGreef. “The government doesn’t have the money, but we’re saying, use what you have the right way.”
