Doctors at Delta Hospital are talking with Fraser Health, but it appears something is getting lost in translation.
A meeting was held last Friday regarding the Delta Hospital Medical Staff Association's concerns with the surgical program, issues the doctors made public and outlined in a recent letter to the minister of health.
A joint press release issued earlier this week by the doctors and the newlyformed Friends of Delta Hospital community group offered encouraging news that the health region has agreed to several recommendations, including the establishment of four shortstay surgical beds to enlarge the scope of surgeries performed at the hospital. What the doctors were asking for, however, fell well short of their original demand for the full restoration of the surgical program. Unlike other hospitals in the region, the operating rooms in Delta close at 3 p.m., which means patients needing urgent procedures after that time have to be transferred by ambulance to other facilities.
That situation doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.
In an interview after the press release was issued, Dr. Robert Shaw said getting the four surgical beds was an important first step toward making restoration of the surgical program possible. He noted the current beds at the hospital are for day surgery patients and not meant for overnight stays.
"We all have that goal in mind (restoration of acute care), absolutely. What the anesthetist and the surgeons told me if we got an acute surgical program back tomorrow, we wouldn't have the manpower to carry it out. We have to take it one step at a time," Shaw said.
However, it later turned out the press release was incorrect and that the surgical beds aren't being offered. Shaw's only response after he found out was that further meetings are planned with the health region.
Noting the meeting with medical staff was constructive and reaffirmed the importance of Delta Hospital in a network of acute care service, Fraser Health spokesperson Erin Labbé said the FHA committed to working with the hospital physicians to further strengthen the process for safely transferring surgical patients requiring overnight care to hospitals that have a surgical role.
Fraser Health is committed to working with the Delta Hospital surgical department towards better understanding of the implications for an overnight or short-stay unit, Labbé noted, adding the FHA clarified this would require significant resources and clinical capacity to ensure safe care.
Longtime resident and community advocate Doug Massey, who helped form Friends of Delta Hospital, said his group wants clarification on what the region plans to do, if anything.
Massey also said he's concerned the health region is intimidating the doctors into backing down and not going public, but Shaw said that's not been the case.
Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington said until she's had an opportunity to talk at length with Shaw and his colleagues, it's difficult to know why the understanding of what happened with FHA is so different from FHA's statement.
"All I know is that we don't seem to have gained much from the process and I want to find out why FHA is being so stubborn in the face of such concern from all of our doctors," Huntington said.
The Friends of Delta Hospital, meantime, will soon have a website up and running where residents can get more information or join the group.
