WorkSafeBC refers clients to private clinic in Calgary

WorkSafe refers clients to private clinic in Calgary for faster surgery

Seventy B.C. residents hurt on the job were sent to Calgary in the past three years for expedited surgery at a private Calgary facility.

Although there are 15 private surgery centres in B.C. to which WorkSafe usually sends clients for rapid treatment, a minority go to Canadian Surgery Solutions for three reasons:

They require hip or knee-joint replacement surgery and, unlike B.C. where stays in private surgery centres are limited to one night, Alberta allows patients to stay more than one night in such facilities.

They were injured on a B.C. job site, but live in Alberta.

They live so close to the border that Calgary is most convenient.

WorkSafe spokeswoman Trish Knight Chernecki said the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. prohibits stays of more than one night in private surgery centres.

As long as 13 years ago, the college, which accredits private surgical facilities to ensure safety and quality, had considered increasing the length of post-operative stays in private surgery centres. But an amendment to provincial rules under the Medical Practitioners Act is required and discussions with government have dragged on.

A year-and-a-half ago, college registrar Dr. Heidi Oetter said the government was floating the concept of letting private surgery clinics do more complicated operations and so regional health authorities could contract out more cases out to them, in a bid to see waiting times in B.C. shrink. But if private surgery centres are more like hospitals, they would have to hire security guards, offer full meal service, have an array of imaging technology and even labs and intensive care units, she said. And provincial statutes would have to change.

Susan Prins, spokeswoman for the college, said it doesn’t oppose extended stays, but the issue is who accredits facilities that are more like hospitals than day-surgery facilities. The college has been discussing the issue with government for more than a decade, but nothing has ever been finalized.

“If the government chose to move in this direction, the college would need to conduct an extensive review of its current non-hospital program and, if the decision was made to expand the program, it would need to draft new bylaws, develop standards appropriate for longer stays, and consider resourcing and funding,” Prins said.

“This isn’t something that could happen without a lot of advance notice and planning. And, there would also need to be an assessment to determine if there is even a demand in B.C. for an extended stay private facility.”

WorkSafe B.C. said an average of 2,711 injured workers have been sent to private surgery centres in B.C. and Alberta for expedited treatment each year for the past three years. On an annual basis, only about 50,000 people — one tenth of all B.C. residents who get surgery each year — use such facilities for expedited care, including WorkSafe claimants and those who pay out-of-pocket.

The matter of whether all patients — not just WorkSafe claimants and other preferred groups — have a constitutional right to pay for medical care at private clinics is being argued in a civil trial that may last as long as seven months. Now in its fifth month, the case is lumbering along at a snail’s pace, mostly because of procedural delays.

Dr. Brian Day, co-owner of the Cambie Surgery Centre — one of the clinics to which WorkSafe sends workers — is the public face of the eight-year old legal case and spokesman for the plaintiffs. He said this week that as long ago as 2003 the college was trying to get the government to make a decision about letting B.C. private clinics do what Alberta allows.

“The WorkSafe practice (of sending patients to Alberta) is forced on them by government ineptitude. Slow response time in decision making is consistent with their similarly slow response time in giving patients access to treatment. There are 85,000 suffering and deteriorating on waiting lists, many becoming clinically depressed and drug dependent while they wait,” he said, referring to the provincial waiting list website that shows there were 85,801 adults and children waiting for scheduled surgery in B.C. as of Dec. 31, 2016.

The number of patients waiting is believed to be at, or near, historical highs.