FILE PHOTO - Kelowna General Hospital

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Three Kelowna MLAs met with Interior Health leadership Thursday in an effort to address concerns about a toxic culture from the top down to the pediatric ward at Kelowna General Hospital.

Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew, Kelowna Centre MLA Kristina Loewen and West Kelowna-Peachland MLA Macklin McCall, all opposition members, spoke with Interior Health officials, June 12. The MLAs spoke with CEO Susan Brown and other members of Interior Health's leadership as well as Ministry of Health staff about the closure of the KGH pediatric ward closure.

“Over the last couple of weeks, I've been talking to tons of doctors, nurses, and other frontline folks who clearly feel that they're working in a toxic culture where their concerns and their feedback is not being heard,” Dew told iNFOnews.ca. “There has to be a turnaround that starts with the culture in our healthcare system and the leadership from the top.”

The 10-bed pediatric ward is closed until sometime in July, but some pediatric services, including emergency services, are still available. According to Interior Health, the shutdown was due to a lack of pediatricians on staff.

Brown is set to retire at the end of the year, and Dew said he doesn’t think that’s enough time to make the change he feels is needed at Interior Health.

“We have a CEO who has six months left in her tenure and who now appears convinced that she is going to be able to turn around what appears to be a broken relationship on her way out the door,” he said.

Dew doesn’t feel like the Health Minister Josie Osborne has given a clear answer on whether Brown should stay on for her remaining six months or if Interior Health should get a new CEO sooner.

“What I want is for Josie Osborne, the Minister of Health, to make absolutely clear either that she has full confidence in the current leadership of Interior Health to lead a turnaround, or I'd like to see her accelerate a leadership transition so that we can hit that reset button,” he said.

McCall said that although more doctors are scheduled to arrive soon, the problem can’t be waved off so easily.

“It is an emergency situation. You can’t say, don't worry. We're gonna fill it in a few months,” McCall said. “If it's happening in pediatrics and people are understaffed and overworked, well, what's to say that's not happening in other units.”

READ MORE: New pediatricians hired but not soon enough to reopen closed ward at Kelowna hospital

A lot of the focus surrounding the issue is on Interior Health’s efforts to recruit doctors since the closure happened because of a lack of staffing. Dew said there ought to be more interest in retention rather than recruitment.

Dew said there are pediatricians who live in Kelowna but don’t want to work at the hospital because doctors report dangerous conditions that put patients at risk and have repercussions on their mental health.

“Let's start with the reality that Kelowna is an amazing place to live and work,” he said. “If people are not wanting to come practice medicine in Kelowna, then something is wrong.”

The MLAs said that part of the flawed culture at Interior Health is a lack of communication.

Dew said that he’s been trying to get a meeting with Interior Health since he was elected back in October, but it took the pediatric ward closure for him to get a sit-down.

READ MORE: Pediatric ward closure in Kelowna triggers fears of ripple effect in B.C. hospitals

“That silence speaks loudly,” he said. “I've reached out, asked for briefings. It took this crisis and it took saying out loud in the media that I've never been briefed by an Interior Health to finally get a half hour meeting this morning.”

The pediatric ward closed down with little notice from Interior Health. Dew said a lack of communication from Interior Health and the Ministry of Health worsens the rift between authorities, healthcare workers and the people who rely on KGH to treat their kids when they get sick.

“The biggest problem we have is a culture problem with broken trust and a lack of communication. And in order to fix that problem, we need a fundamental reset from leadership on down,” Dew said.

McCall said that communication ought to work both ways since healthcare workers had been raising the alarm about issues in the hospital and their concerns fell on deaf ears.

“(Interior Health) needs to listen to the doctors. They're the pros. They know what they're doing,” McCall said.

Interior Health did not immediately respond to a request from iNFOnews.ca for comment. 

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