The B.C. NDP’s new 10-year cancer action plan includes cancer centres in Nanaimo and Kamloops, says party leader John Horgan.
“Over the next number of years, we need to make sure that health care is faster, delivered closer to home,” Horgan said at a campaign stop in the Vancouver-False Creek riding. “Patients should be able to get the services they want, not just in the Lower Mainland, not just in our major urban centres, but in rural communities as well.”
Horgan said the NDP would work with the B.C. Cancer Agency and health authorities to build on cancer facilities, equipment, services and programs in the province.
He also pointed to the importance of new telehealth technologies, new equipment and the hiring and training of more health-care workers.
“We also want to make sure we’re delivering prevention, screening diagnostic and treatment services, right across the province,” he said.
Adrian Dix, who served as health minister in the NDP government, said the Island, because of its higher population of seniors, will see more age-related cancers over that 10-year period, making it “particularly important on Vancouver Island to get care closer to people.”
To build the new centres and upgrade the rest will require significant operating funds and capital investment, and the time to allocate that is now, Dix said — “not deciding 10 years from now there’s a problem.”
The NDP cancer strategy includes a three-year operating budget to pay for improved services — $50 million in the first year, followed by $100 million in the second year and $300 million in the third. The many proposed capital projects, including the Nanaimo cancer centre, are still in the planning process, said Dix. No dollar amount was provided for that.
“What you are going to see is a considerable capital investment,” said Dix.
Nanaimo Liberal candidate Kathleen Jones said a cancer centre for Nanaimo is “really good news,” but she wants to see a “tertiary” hospital that provides a full complement of specialist services, with cardiac care, cancer care and a new patient tower.
The hospital would serve the region north of Duncan, said Jones, and take pressure off Victoria’s two main hospitals. Vancouver Island University could be involved in medical training, she said.
“We need to invest millions into the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital — we’re the hub, we’re the middle of the Island, we don’t need to keep sending people all over the province to get medical help, particularly when we have such an aging population here,” said Jones, noting there are two psychiatrists for the whole region. “We have one of the fastest-growing areas of population here on the mid-Island, so the need for this was yesterday.”
The cancer centre is also part of a 10-year plan for a government that, if re-elected, will have a four-year mandate, said Jones. “So that’s a little bit curious.”
B.C. Green candidate Lia Versaevel called a new cancer centre in Nanaimo “wonderful news” for patients in the mid- and north-Island now forced to get cancer care in Victoria and Vancouver. “It’s unfortunate that we had to wait and have an election in order for them to come up with this plan, but I’m very excited on behalf of all of Nanaimo,” said Versaevel, who said if the Greens are elected, she would like to speed up the centre’s arrival.
The NDP plan builds on work the province has already announced to improve cancer care, including Canada’s first lung cancer early-detection screening program and the addition of regional cancer centres in Surrey and Burnaby.
Under the plan, the NDP says within five years, patients will have one point of contact for cancer care, while entire families will be offered genomic testing. New clinicians will be hired and existing cancer centres will be renovated.
Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson in a campaign announcement in Vancouver, announced a B.C. Liberal government would add $58 million to the “proven public safety model” in Vancouver, Kamloops and Surrey to hire 100 psychiatric social workers and psychiatric registered nurses “to staff joint teams with police.”
“Police are asked to often to intervene in situations that really need mental-health workers,” Wilkinson says.
Horgan, who called a snap election on Sept. 21, warned investments such as the cancer plan, the NDP’s 10-year $1.4-billion seniors plan, and an offer of $1,000 for households with incomes under $125,000 will be at risk if the B.C. Liberals form government.
