Doctors declare emergency
OLIVER — Three veteran doctors, including the former chief of staff at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, are warning the emergency room there could close if drastic changes aren’t made soon.
Madia Smallwood, the current head of the ER, Peter Entwistle, the former chief of staff, along with colleague Jacob Bellingan, made a presentation to Oliver council Monday evening detailing their frustration with the current system that has seen numerous ER shifts cancelled as physicians suffer burnout.
“The biggest issue from our point of view is that no one takes responsibility,” said Entwistle, who stepped down in 2017 to protest the situation and run as an independent in the provincial election.
“If you ask Interior Health, they would say it’s the doctors. The doctors will say it’s Interior Health. The ministry will say it’s someone else. No one takes responsibility.”
Entwistle warned the situation is so dire that the seven full-time physicians in Osoyoos and Oliver who are largely responsible for running the ER are considering stepping back, which would force the department to close.
“When it closes, it won’t open again,” he said.
The impacts on health care for local residents would obviously be significant as SOGH would become more of a longterm health facility rather than hospital, forcing residents to travel to Penticton for emergency care, he said.
Entwistle urged members of council to “step up” and demand change.
“It all comes down to extra money,” he said.
Bellingan, who started a family practice in Osoyoos six years ago, told council the key issue is the “fee-forservice” model used by Interior Health and approved by the Ministry of Health to pay doctors working extra in the ER.
Under the fee-for-service model, you get paid for every patient you see, but not for your time, meaning they wouldn’t be paid anything if they didn’t treat patients during a shift, he explained.
— Penticton Herald