Four doctors whose resignations from a Greater Victoria medical clinic take effect at the end of this month say the health authority bungled negotiations and a last-ditch effort to talk came too late.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority, which operates the Health Point Care Clinic on Hillside Avenue, notified 1,800 patients in February that they would lose the clinic’s four part-time family doctors as of May 31, after a contract dispute between the two.
VIHA wanted the doctors to pay more toward overhead costs for the clinic, which opened in 2004 to care for senior patients with complex needs who did not have a family doctor.
On Monday, VIHA and the resigning doctors finally sat down to talk for the first time in months, but by then, the doctors had made other professional commitments, said Dr. Fiona Manning, one of the four.
“It was too late and they acknowledge it’s too late.”
The health authority said it has hired two temporary part-time doctors for the clinic and is seeking an additional locum.
VIHA missed every window of opportunity to talk, said Manning, who accused the health authority of an appalling lack of communication and collaboration.
“Even if there was a great proposal on the table, we’d have to think long and hard because of the way this has been mismanaged,” Manning said.
VIHA spokeswoman Sarah Plank said Wednesday the health authority had a good discussion with the physicians about how the communication process could have been improved — on both sides.
“We presented the foundation of a new proposal and we left that with the physicians and the door is always open,” Plank said.
A patient-organized group called Save Health Point made desperate appeals to VIHA to negotiate and retain the doctors. Two rallies were held, in March and April.
At the April 17 rally, Oak Bay-Gordon Head Green party candidate Andrew Weaver said if the provincial government is looking to save money, it should look to VIHA executive salaries.
Hours after that rally, Liberal cabinet minister Ida Chong, who is running for re-election in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, called it unacceptable and “disturbing” for VIHA not to negotiate a resolution with the doctors, jeopardizing a clinic that provides a valuable service to the community. That same day, Manning said, the doctors’ offer of an urgent meeting was declined in a letter from VIHA’s lawyer.
Still hopeful of reversing the tide, about a dozen patients met with Victoria-Beacon Hill NDP candidate Carole James Monday.
“The biggest piece that stood out for me was the poor communication that has been a signature of this entire process,” said James, pointing to inadequate communication between VIHA and patients, and VIHA and the doctors.
“And [there was] no clear communication on why the [clinic] model is being changed or why the dollars are being cut — basic questions.”
James, co-chairperson for the NDP election platform, says she met with VIHA before the election and will meet again afterwards to figure out what happens next, especially if the clinic cannot hire enough doctors to serve the patients.
VIHA met with patients Tuesday and offered to form a patient advisory group for Health Point Care Clinic.
Judith Hodgson, a patient and founder of Save Health Point, said she concluded from the meeting that the doctors will not be coming back.
“I left the meeting upset, not so much for myself but for so many other people … they were counting on having those medical practitioners for the rest of their very short lives.”
Several physicians have toured through the medical clinic and have expressed interest in working there, but discussions are still preliminary, Plank said.
The Health Point doctors say they embraced working at a multi-disciplinary, team-oriented clinic and formed deep relationships with their patients.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that this could have been prevented if VIHA had come to the table and said ‘Let’s work this out,’ and they never did,” Manning said.
Health Point dispute basics:
• Health Point was founded in 2004 to cater to patients 55 years and older with complex needs — from chronic disease to palliative care — who do not have a family doctor in Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay.
• The dispute: VIHA wanted Health Point Care Clinic physicians to pay about 5.5 per cent more toward the clinic's overhead costs — rent, utilities, two registered nurses and three medical office assistants. Overhead is $420,000 a year and subsidized by the health authority.
• VIHA also asked the doctors to increase their patient rosters and reduce the clinic’s waiting list. The doctors argued they implemented efficiencies as requested, but more would have affected the quality of care.
• VIHA said the Health Point physicians, who work about three days a week, were asked to pay what amounted to about 23⊇per cent of their combined total reported MSP billings toward overhead. The B.C. Medical Association says family doctors generally pay an average of 40 per cent of billings toward overhead.
• Doctors Nena Edmunds, Fiona Manning, Tess Hammett and Jill Norris resigned in February, saying VIHA’s proposal would significantly reduce their incomes and the quality of care.
• In 2012, Edmunds billed MSP for $145,000, Hammett $105,000, Norris $117,000 and Manning $109,000.
