The recent report from the Comox Strathcona Regional District confirms that the physician committee they formed to reach a consensus on a location for a new single regional hospital site failed. This was predictable with a 100% probability of failure. This is because a single new hospital fails to meet the health care needs of the North Island population, no matter where it is placed. Since it was the only issue allowed to be decided by this committee, the outcome was known in advance. This announcement has brought the issue to the fore once again and once again we believe is not being presented accurately in the press. The medical staff of Campbell River wish to clarify these issues in this public forum.

The statements by Dr Tabarsi, our chosen representative, have been quoted and presented in the press simply as the views only of a doctor from Campbell River, without clarifying that he speaks as our delegated representative to speak on this issue, with the full and overwhelming support from the Campbell River medical community. We fully support and stand behind the statements he made over this past week.

Issue has been taken by the CSRD and VIHA spokespersons, that labeling their positions on the regional hospital decision as blackmail is unfounded. This needs to be addressed. The quote from Mr. Bates the CSRD chair that “with a vote against the regional site then he expects the two hospitals to receive the minimum in terms of hospital maintenance…rather than the required major investments in the two existing facilities”, can be interpreted as nothing else than blackmail to influence this decision. VIHA officials have previously been quoted as stating “that the status quo is unacceptable,” and ironically enough, we do agree with this, the status quo from our standpoint being that Campbell River Hospital has been chronically underfunded to adequately meet the health care needs of the North Island population, yet has continued for many years to serve as the regional hospital for acute medical care.

The reason this task force has failed is because the proposed single regional site in Comox Valley does not adequately meet the health care needs of the North Island population. Although everyone, including ourselves, agrees with the idealized concept of a true regional hospital, with expanded services, and all the benefits which will accrue from that, the facts as they have evolved are that what is being proposed currently is an enhanced general hospital in Comox Valley with the loss of a functioning general hospital in Campbell River. The result is a loss of both the provision and access to quality health care not only for Campbell River residents but for the rest of the North Island as well.

An expanded general hospital in the Comox Valley will not and indeed cannot serve as an adequate regional hospital for the North Island. Having come to recognize this reality we must emphasize publicly that there is no support within the Campbell River Medical Community for a regional hospital as currently proposed.

We might add that the Comox Valley medical staff do not support a regional hospital either. Their support for the concept has, from the start been only for a hospital located in the Comox Valley itself. We would submit that this fact alone is evidence that they do not support the concept of a true regional hospital, which is the concept being promoted to sell the idea.

The need for single regional site as the only option to attract enough specialists, which is another cornerstone of the demand for a single regional hospital, also needs to be addressed. It would not be a guarantee of attracting enough specialists as evidenced by the fact that both Nanaimo regional hospital and to a lesser degree Victoria still have trouble attracting enough specialists to provide the full continuous coverage in all areas including subspecialties, which should be the hallmark of and minimal standard for a regional hospital. On the contrary it runs the risk of initially losing a critical mass of physicians, due to the disruption of current practice patterns.

Indeed Mr. Waldner, CEO of VIHA, has rightly pointed out previously that we will need the support of all the physicians involved to make a regional hospital succeed. It should be obvious to both VIHA and the CSRD, that they don’t have this and that no single regional site will have this support, no matter where it is placed in the north island. This area is just too geographically large and diverse to have this option succeed. To continue to blindly pursue this as the only option runs the real risk of causing an abrupt collapse in the fabric of acute medical care which currently exists in the north island. This care is currently dependent upon the full functioning of both hospitals with their current frameworks of services. This will be impossible to maintain in their current locations and impossible replicate in a new single site for the number of years while this transition is being done.

We call on VIHA and the CSRD to revisit the options presented in the Turnkey consulting report, specifically the second ranked option of funding the appropriate upgrades and allowing the expansions in services required at both the current main hospitals to allow them to fully meet the health care demands of their respective populations, within their current established frameworks. We believe that this is the only viable option that will maintain continuity and access to adequate care as they evolve to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the north island

This evolution may at some point in the future lead to a true, well thought out and properly developed single regional hospital, but the present proposal given the current realities and logistics of health care as it currently exists, is we believe destined to fail for the reasons we have outlined above, with the real potential for serious and fairly immediate consequences. There should be no doubt that this is the immediate crisis which is unfortunately been ignored by the focus on the flawed model of a single regional site.

Finally, the next decision rests with the Comox-Strathcona Regional District Board and we call on all of the voting members of this body to weigh their votes carefully at their next board meeting, putting the interests and health care for all North Island residents ahead of any narrow, self-serving but short sighted political gains.

On behalf of the Campbell River Medical Staff and with their full support for this letter, I remain
Sincerely Yours,
Dr. Jeff Beselt
Medical Staff President
Campbell River Hospital