Barriers to interprovincial access to health care need to be lifted: B.C. doctor

The chief of staff at a hospital in Golden, B.C., is calling on the province to address what he says are interprovincial barriers that are preventing his patients from accessing care.

Golden is a rural town of 5,000 people. Although East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook is designated as Golden's primary referral centre, patients who need more complex care or services may head to centres in nearby Calgary instead.

Access was never much of a problem before, but barriers seem to have gone up in recent years for no apparent reason, and patients have been forced to head to Kelowna or Vancouver, said Dr. Jean Gaston DesCoteaux with the Golden and District Hospital.

DesCoteaux points to a case of a cancer patient who, after a few months of chemotherapy and a leg surgery in Kelowna, required a PET scan that's only available in Vancouver.

"So when we tried to get this service in Calgary, we get turned down and she ended up having to go to Vancouver, which means 10-hour car ride — which she did," he told Daybreak South.

"It was just heartbreaking to see this woman and her husband struggling to think about how they were going to get there."

DesCoteaux says he was told his patient could only get the PET scan in Calgary if he can provide a letter from the B.C. government ensuring the procedure would be paid for.

In a letter written to Health Minister Terry Lake that was published in a local paper, DesCoteaux says many patients in Golden are too ill to endure a long car ride to as far as Vancouver. Some even turn down treatments because they can't afford the travel or accommodations.

Lake declined an interview, but a ministry spokesperson said in a statement that patients in border communities in northeastern B.C. or the East Kootenays can choose to go to Alberta for surgical and diagnostic services. B.C. has billing agreements in place with every province across the country to cover the costs of care, it said.  

"B.C. is working to put in place an agreement with Alberta to streamline processes and eliminate the need for B.C. patients to apply and get confirmation of MSP funding before booking a scan or treatment," the statement said. 

"However, it is important to note that it is up to the receiving hospital or physician to accept a patient and the medical system in Alberta is also likely facing high demand." 

To hear the full interview, listen to the audio labelled: B.C. doctor wants inter-provincial barriers addressed