No private clinics needed, no excuses given by politicians, but clever planning and staff determination to serve the public good

BY STEVEN KASZAB

I recently received a written response from a niece living in British Columbia. She is a mid-level hospital administrator of some 22 years. She responded to a letter I sent her asking what has been happening within her healthcare system environment.

Her response is a little surprising.

“As it stands, there are still many jobs in and outside of the hospital, essentially all over B.C. 

The hospitals, colleges and private school systems are all trying to cash in on the popular training of healthcare workers, and as many graduates are swallowed up by the system, job vacancies still remain.

Many firms to go work for them over the years have approached me, but I will not commute many hours to the North Shore, and do not want to work Monday – Friday. Are the offers lucrative? Not really. Pays similar, with no benefits, or vacation pay. The private sector is a joke, paying the same or less, demanding excess over time and has no real pension plan to boot.

Whether people retire, or decide they have had enough, going back to school to change their professions working for the government is still the bomb. The hospital administration backs you up, encourages professional advancement and seems to care about you. I have friends who entered the private sector, working on contract, or for specialized staffing agencies and many wish they were back here in the hospital.

The media says differently, but that is the truth in B.C.  It is a different world these days, with COVID making people seemingly lazy. Our hospital pays signing bonuses to hire staff, yet many people still want to work remotely, often pretending to work rather than show up to help people in need.

I am unsure how people are managing their money to live and pay for stuff as the cost-of-living skyrockets daily. I doubt their pay checks have tripled like the cost of some grocery products, yet: restaurants are full, Costco is busy, shopping malls are packed with shoppers and many jobs remain vacant.

The pandemic has made people lazy, perhaps greedy; an interesting thought. The pandemic has given many people an opportunity to cash in, take advantage of the system while many of us work just like before the pandemic except we have a few healthcare protocols to make our workday interesting.” 

My niece did mention Premier Ford’s announcement of adding and expanding upon private clinics within Ontario to carry out simpler operations while leaving the serious operations to the hospital system. She said their B.C. hospitals maximized their operating potential two years ago, finding 36% more time and staff within their limited system to carry out furloughed operations 24 hours a day. The administration, and staff work together to accomplish their own internal hospital process.

No private clinics needed, no excuses given by politicians, but clever planning and staff determination to serve the public good.