The B.C. Nurses union is criticizing Island Heath for not attending a public discussion tonight about a controversial new management model.
The meeting is being hosted by Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Andrew Weaver, who has been outspoken in calling on Island Health to delay the plan’s implementation until comprehensive and independent evaluations can be done.
The Oak Bay MLA is hosting a panel and public discussion on Island Health’s new Delivery Model Redesign, which will be implemented in Victoria General and Royal Jubilee hospitals on April 23. The new management plan was implemented at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
“Health-care professionals are raising serious concerns about CDMR. Research suggests it could be problematic and its impact on our health-care system could be significant,” Weaver said in a statement in December. “Yet while Island Health states that CDMR is an evidence-based approach to health care, they have not released their evidence for public scrutiny.”
The B.C. Nurses’ Union and the University of Victoria School of Nursing plan to attend tonight’s meeting. The event has been advertised as a chance to bring together different perspectives on a significant change to the health-care system on Vancouver Island.
“I think that an appointed body responsible for delivering health care to three-quarters of a million people should be willing to defend its patient-care model in a public forum,” said BCNU president Debra McPherson, in a press release today. “Part of the job of managing change in health care is engaging in public forums that give the public a chance to weigh the pros and cons.”
The BCNU says the new way of managing nurses is unsafe and it’s up to Island Health to prove otherwise. The BCNU says Island Health has no research to support the new nursing model.
In response, Island Health said it recognizes the public and political interest in its Care Delivery Model Redesign but explained in January, upon being invited to the public town hall tonight, that as a “non-partisan, publicly funded agency, Island Health is not able to participate in public community events that are organized by the officers of elected officials, and where there is a political overlay to the event,” said Island Health spokeswoman Sarah Plank, in an e-mail.
“We feel that in this case, there is clearly a political overlay to the public forum, something that we feel was made even clearer in Mr. Weaver's subsequent response to us,” Plank said.
“Also, in the way the town hall format was proposed to us, our professional staff — who are public servants — would be placed in a difficult situation by being asked to debate against individuals who are elected into partisan and advocacy roles.”
Adriane Gear, BCNU regional co-chairperson for the south Island, says Island Health insists it has to do a better job on communication.
“I don’t see how ducking discussion of these concerns contributes to better communication with nurses or the public.”
Island Health says it is engaging the community and those involved in the new management plan by holding meetings, talking with the public and the union, having discussions with staff, meeting with elected officials, and “being transparent about the implementation and sharing monitoring data and survey responses with our staff and the public at www.viha.ca/about_viha/accountability/performance_measures/.
Island Health’s Care Delivery Model Redesign has sparked large protests and petitions on Vancouver Island and stark criticism from nurses.
The reaction has pushed back expansion of the model at Victoria General and Royal Jubilee hospitals from mid-January to April.
Island Health says the addition of health-care aides to nursing teams will free registered nurses to do more supervisory and specialized work.
It will also help combat nursing job vacancies, stem an impending nursing shortage and reduce overtime — $4.4 million at Royal Jubilee Hospital, $2.7 million at Victoria General Hospital, and $17.6 million Island-wide from August 2012 through August 2013, says Island Health.
The most controversial aspect of the model is a team approach that involves a new way of grouping, staffing and scheduling registered nurses and licensed practical nurses with the addition of care aides.
The BCNU says it supports the addition of care aides, but says instead Island Health is replacing professional nurses with unlicensed care aides and putting patient safety at risk.
Weaver is hosting the public discussion at 7 p.m. today at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre.
