Kelowna General Hospital can be seen in a screen shot from an aerial video shot at the peak of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image Credit: YOUTUBE/Shawn Talbot

Health Minister Josie Osborne visited Kelowna General Hospital during the controversial pediatric unit closure, and didn’t come out with a timeline on reopening.

“There’s no official timeline, it's about again having the right number of pediatricians and we're moving in the right direction,” she said. “We have four physicians that have signed contracts, we have four associate physicians who will be coming on board soon and so as soon as it can be safely and sustainably reopened it will be.”

Local MLAs Gavin Dew, Kristina Loewen and Macklin McCall invited Osborne to their town hall on July 2 to hear from the public, but she said she isn’t going.

“I certainly will be open to hearing from the MLAs after anything that they want to share with me. But I am focused on hearing from people, hearing from physicians and that's why I'm here today,” she said.

All three MLAs have been loudly critical of Osborne since the unit’s closure.

“Today, Minister Osborne is finally visiting KGH, but we are hearing some groups of healthcare professionals have been selectively excluded from meetings. Either the Minister doesn’t want to hear the full story, or information is being withheld from her. Clearly, there is much more work to do to rebuild trust and reset the system,” Dew said in a press release today, June 30. 

Kelowna’s 10-bed pediatric unit has been closed for weeks and doctors have levied allegations that the hospital has been understaffed which led to a toxic and unsafe work environment.

Interior Health has been working to recruit more doctors, and Osborne said the hospital and health authority are working on a plan to improve staff retention as well as recruitment.

“Continuing to add medical seats to schools like UBC which is of course active here in Kelowna building a new medical school down in Surrey. Increasing the number of nurses that are working, working towards minimum nurse to patient ratios again this is about no matter who you are in terms of working in a hospital that you are safe and feel supported,” she said.

Interior Health CEO Susan Brown was set to retire at the end of the year but after a meeting with the IH board has resigned and will instead stick around to help with the transition.

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