Template or poor data? Leaked documents raise questions about B.C. urgent care centres
B.C.’s Ministry of Health insists a leaked document purportedly containing internal health authority data on the province’s much-hyped Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs) is a “template” of how information would be presented, even though there are no notations indicating that’s the case.
The BC Liberal Party obtained the 31-page report with data from an internal dashboard used by health authorities and the Ministry of Health, titled “Urgent and Primary Care Centre Report” outlining information from April to December of last year.
Unlike other leaked internal documents, this one does not contain the words “draft” or “template” anywhere and raises questions about just how many patients are seen at the government-run facilities and whether the ministry of health even knows.
A summary page indicates that over the nine-month period, each practitioner saw only 4.6 patients per day on average, but a ministry spokesperson insists the document is a mockup of a dashboard “created using partial and inaccurate electronic encounter data,” and that “UPCC physician services averaged 26 in-patient visits per day compared to an average of 22 in-person patient visits per day for family physicians in community service locations.”
When the opposition Liberals raised the document in the legislature during question period, the health minister responded with general statements on health care during the twin crises of the pandemic and overdose deaths. He addressed the issue more directly later.
“You can look at information partially or a portion of the visits as they were working on the mockup of the dashboard, I gather, and did that,” said Adrian Dix when asked by CTV News. “The reality is there are a lot of visits to Urgent and Primary Care Centres."
The ministry staffer who reached out late in the afternoon said that early last month the ministry “in good faith reached out to (its) partners to show them a mock-up of a UPCC dashboard.”
“In communicating internally, we made it very clear that we were giving a template, an indication of how data will be reported transparently going forward, not a finalized report,” the spokesperson said.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
One of the province’s experts in health-care systems raised questions about the validity of the data when CTV News presented her with the document, pointing out government should be proactively releasing that kind of information.
“Ultimately, these UPCCs represent a huge investment (of) public dollars at a time when access to family physicians is really a huge and ongoing challenge, and that merits rigorous evaluation and it merits data transparency,” said Lindsay Hedden, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
“We really need to understand the relationship between UPCCs and our ongoing emergency department challenges.”
She added that there will be growing pains every time a new health-care feature is established, and that collecting the data on usage in a dashboard format is unprecedented and most welcome. But she also called on the government to provide more-detailed information, noting most of the reasons for patient visits to UPCCs were classified as “general symptoms.”
“This report provides updated metrics on the patients, practitioners, and services at these facilities to allow for continuous feedback and improvement to our health-care system,” reads the final page of the report, which says it is “for use in analysis and planning, as well as for distribution to the UPCC administrative teams such as the Family Divisions of Practice and the their respective health authorities.”
OPPOSITION REVIVES ISSUES OF TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST
Political parties, medical experts and others have criticised the NDP government’s lack of data transparency during the pandemic, and the Liberals insist this is another example of keeping the public in the dark.
“If the data is inaccurate, then the government needs to make sure that they sort this out,” said Official Opposition leader Shirley Bond.
“It's another level of confidence, it's another level of transparency."
She also pointed out the long waits for medical attention are indisputable in every corner of the province.
“We have a province where you should not be waiting for nine hours to take a sick child to have the treatment and care that they need,” said Bond. “We need government to step up. We need everyone to be at the table.”
The ministry ended its email to CTV News promising: “Our commitment is to continue to find a way to better report on the performance of UPCCs.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Police investigating shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
3 Indian nationals accused of murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar facing court in B.C.
Three Indian nationals accused of murdering Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are due to face court Tuesday over the killing that triggered a major diplomatic rift with India.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
Highlights from the 2024 Met Gala exhibit: Sleeping Beauty would wake up for these gowns
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.