Nurses' union boss says plan "foolhardy, reckless"
Nanaimo Daily News May 26, 2006
The president of the BC Nurses' Union is calling the Vancouver Island Health Authority's proposal to contract out some surgeries to private clinics "foolhardy and reckless."

Thursday, Debra McPherson said the health authority is embarking on a "scheme" to send patients to for-profit clinics without regard to negative effects it will have on patients' access to care in public health-care facilities.

She also said signing five-year deals with private clinics will make the shortage of nurses and other health-care providers in public facilities even worse because the for-profit clinics will embark on recruiting drives.

Right now there are hundreds of available operating room hours sitting unused or underused in hospitals throughout the Vancouver Island region," said McPherson. "That's either because there aren't enough funds to run them, or because VIHA doesn't have enough nurses and doctors to keep them running at full capacity.  For the health authority and provincial government to claim they can free up capacity in hospitals for more complex procedures by removing staff from those hospitals to do day surgeries in for-profit clinics is laughable."