B.C. Greens propose community health care centre network

As British Columbians continue to deal with emergency room closures, B.C. Greens believe they can be limited by reforming primary care through a network of community health care centres. 

“With better access to primary care, we can catch issues early, reduce the strain on emergency rooms and save resources,” B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau said, Monday morning in Victoria. “This is a path forward that supports both health care workers and the public and it’s long past that we move in this direction.” 

Furstenau made these comments as she presented her party’s proposal to reform primary care as 1 out of 5 British Columbians lack family physicians. Furstenau described it as the Dogwood Model, a variation of the so-called Periwinkle model proposed by former federal health minister Jane Philpott. 

“This plan will create a network of community health centres across B.C.,” she said. “These centres will provide access to doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, mental health professionals and specialists all in one place without complicated referrals or long waits.” 

Furstenau acknowledged that neither the idea nor the party’s push for it is new, but framed it as a critique of the prevailing approach, which she stands in the way of physicians and other health care professionals wanting to practice medicine. B.C. has plenty of doctors, but just in the wrong places.

“B.C. doesn’t lack health care professionals, it lacks a system where professionals want to stay and work,” she said. 

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said government continues to invest in training and recruiting health care professionals, saying its new model for family physicians has paid off with more than 700 doctors joining a previous 4,200 in the field. 

But Furstenau singled out the model that sees family physicians operate as businesses that then bills the government.

“For some doctors, we know that the current the family practice model works well and we don’t intend to change that,” she said. “But many doctors have told us that they want to focus on patient care without also having to run a business.” 

Furstenau compared her community health care centre proposal to the system of MLA offices that currently exist across B.C.

“If we provide the infrastructure of community health centres in (government) leases the way that we do for MLA offices right now, then we create the conditions where doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, can build their teams and do what they were trained to do, deliver health care. What we have seen under the NDP is an enormous growth in the bureaucratic weight on top of our health-care system and that has actually driven a lot of health care professionals away from it.” 

Speaking to the CBC in May, Philpott compared this idea to the public school system.

“No matter where you move in this country, your child will be able to have access to publicly funded education at the elementary and secondary school level,” she said in May. The availability of primary medical services would grow and change with the population, just as the education system adjusts, Philpott added. 

While Philpott acknowledged human resources challenges, she said the key lies in shifting resources. 

“At the moment, the bulk of the workforce happens in the illness-care space, which is hospital-based care…and we can actually prevent the burden on hospitals if we had community-based primary care, where people had that access to care in the prevention and health promotion that is necessary to keep them out of hospitals,” she said. 

Echoing Philpott, Furstenau said medical professionals offering primary care would be on salary. 

When asked how the B.C. Greens would fund this network, Furstenau said it could be done “within the envelope of health-care” funding.

“We just have to spend the  money more wisely than we are now.” 

Furstenau said her party’s proposal for a network of community health care centres is part and parcel of the party’s larger plan to address healthcare “holistically” by focusing on both primary care and the social determinants of health. 

With Monday’s announcement, the B.C. Greens join the B.C. Conservatives in presenting formal reform proposals prior to this fall’s provincial election. Conservative leader John Rustad earlier this year pledged to reform B.C.’s health care system along European lines. Notably, the model first proposed by Philpott, now the B.C. Greens also has its roots in Europe. 

Black Press Media has reached out the B.C. NDP for comment after the B.C. Ministry of Health had referred questions to government caucus or campaign representatives.