She's said it before, and she said it again.
"We will act decisively when our residents are left behind," she vowed, concerning the dearth of healthcare services here. "Together let us send a very clear message Surrey deserves nothing less than it's fair share and we intend to secure that."
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke has presented a notice of motion to be dealt with on May 12, on a point of "deep concern" given Surrey's population rivals Vancouver's, and is expected to surpass it within the next decade. "Yet our residents continue to face an alarming shortage of the critical healthcare resources."
Surrey Memorial Hospital delivered 6,000 babies last year in space built for 4,000, she began. "We have eight specialists per 10,000 people; Vancouver has 35. Only 59 family doctors serve every 100,000 Surrey residents, barely half the provincial average and less than half of Vancouver's 136."
Locke noted that SMH still lacks cardiology lab services, a stroke centre and a trauma unit. "Surrey and White Rock together have 996 hospital beds versus 2,572 in Vancouver; just 597 acute care beds versus 1,138. Zero long-term care beds in Surrey compared with Vancouver's 535. Our children are treated in 16 pediatric beds while Vancouver has 252. That's particularly shocking to me, given we have just about double the amount of children in our school district."
She added that emergency physicians in Surrey spend 16 minutes per patient while Vancouver patients "receive three times that amount."
"These disparities are not just abstract statistics, they are an anxious parent in a crowded ER, the senior awaiting a long-term care bed and the young family searching for a family doctor who is taking in new patients."
Locke noted that healthcare is a provincial government responsibility and it must ensure equitable service for all British Columbians "Including the people of Surrey."
The mayor said, "to be clear," Surrey welcomes the promise of a new hospital and cancer centre and applauds the new SFU medical school, "but the planned hospital omits a maternity ward, a pediatric unit, a trauma centre and when it opens Surrey will still have three-quarters fewer beds than Vancouver has today. That is not parity – that is a gap in our growing city that we can no longer accept.
While the City of Surrey continues to press Victoria and Fraser Health for the city's "fair share," she added, Surrey "will not stand by. We will act where we can, starting with primary care."
Speaking anecdotally, the mayor recalled the story of a young woman having her first baby going to SMH but being transferred to Chilliwack. "It's just unacceptable."
So the point of her motion is to direct city staff to research healthcare "access challenges" in Surrey and was loaded with "whereas-es" concerning the critical shortage of family doctors and other services "resulting in a demonstrably poorer access than comparable jurisdictions." It also seeks to direct city staff to explore initiatives undertaken by the City of Colwood "with particular attention to governance, financing and outcomes of its municipally operated medical clinic" and "additional models" to expand access to family doctors here.
Her motion also calls on staff to evaluate the legal, financial and operational feasibility of the City of Surrey employing or contracting family doctors to serve local residents, and report back with options, recommend next steps and required resources within 120 days and look into establishing a healthcare administrator within the city manager's office "to coordinate this research, liaise with Fraser Health and the Province of British Columbia and advocate for equitable healthcare resources for Surrey."
