Island Health has long been ignoring North Island concerns about the manner in which consultations for clinical pathology samples were transferred to Nanaimo and Victoria. Seventy-five doctors and dozens of lab technologists and assistants in Campbell River made their opposition known. The Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital District Board has been seeking to opt out since November 2019 and at its last meeting before COVID struck requested the area’s original pathology services be reinstated. Two Comox Valley pathologists, Dr. Chris Bellamy and Dr. Wayne Donn, recently tended their resignations because of ‘differences with Island Health’. They will be leaving on August 23rd, 2020. Now Citizens for Quality Health Care (CFQHC) is calling for an independent enquiry into the changes at the Campbell River Hospital Lab, which also serves outlying areas like Cortes, Quadra and the rest of the Discovery Islands.
Continue reading Citizens for Quality Health Care Call For independent Enquiry into Campbell River Hospital labTag Archives: Aref Tabarsi
Protect Our Hospital Services
According to Dr David Robertson of Island Health, transferring the consultation of clinical pathology samples from Campbell River to specialists in Nanaimo and Victoria was a significant improvement. He insists the turnaround time on lab results is consistent with, or better than, when those services were provided in Campbell River. Dr. Aref TabarsiI, senior general pathologist at the Campbell River hospital, 75 doctors, the Campbell River Hospital’s surgeons, lab technologists, assistants and board of directors all disagree. Campbell River’s City Council, the Regional Hospital Board and the laboratory staff demand that local pathology services be restored – but neither Island Health or the Ministry of Health are responding. Two hundred citizens came to hear more at the Citizens for Quality Health Care/Council of Canadians Town hall meeting ‘Protect Our Hospital Services’ held in the Campbell River Sportsplex on Sunday, Feb 9, 2020.
Continue reading Protect Our Hospital Services
Is VIHA Favouring Profit Over Patient Care?
Originally Published in Decafnation
By George Le Masurier
When the Vancouver Island Health Authority ordered the discontinuation of onsite clinical pathologists’ services at the Campbell River Hospital, there was an overwhelming and immediate protest by surgeons, lab technologists and assistants, elected officials and the general public.
Continue reading Is VIHA Favouring Profit Over Patient Care?
What VIHA’s Pathology Plan Means To Us
Originally published on Decafnation
By George Le Masurier
Imagine you are the Campbell River parent of a four-year-old boy who has been feeling tired for the past few days. Suddenly, in the morning, you notice he has a stiff neck and a high fever.
North Island Hospitals Losing Pathologist Services
“As goes your pathology, so goes your medicine” — Dr. William Osler, Canadian physician and co-founder of Johns Hopkins University
Originally published on Decafnation
By George Le Masurier
If Island Health executives get their way, the new Comox Valley Hospital could lose all of its onsite clinical pathologist services sometime next year, a move that area doctors and elected officials believe will further diminish patient care on the North Island.
Continue reading North Island Hospitals Losing Pathologist Services