BC to review spending at all health authorities

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s ministry of health says the province is reviewing health authority spending to ensure resources go to “critical patient services” and to minimize wasteful administrative costs. Health minister Josie Osborne (pictured) says the government wants to ensure that all authorities are best positioned to tackle the “complex challenges” facing the healthcare system.

The move comes amid a series of emergency room closures that have spread from rural communities to parts of the Lower Mainland, the Canadian Press reported.

The ministry says in a news release that the Provincial Health Services Authority is the first to undergo the review because of its province-wide role across the health system.

That includes BC Cancer, BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, BC Emergency Health Services, BC Mental Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Osborne says every health authority in the province will be reviewed and that the government is committed to ensuring health authorities are functioning as effectively and efficiently as possible.

“That’s why we’re reviewing each health authority to confirm patients, their families and healthcare providers are benefiting from the most possible and the best use of resources directed to front-line patient care,” she said in the news release.

The release also said the PHSA’s president and CEO, David Byres, last week accepted a secondment reporting to Osborne to work on eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare.

Dr. Penny Ballem has stepped out of her role as board chair at Vancouver Coastal Health to serve as the PHSA’s interim president and CEO, and she will lead the review.

According to the new release, Dr. Ballem will “make recommendations and associated changes as needed to reposition, streamline and optimize resources at the PHSA.”