Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford is standing by his call for the immediate dismissal of Fraser Health Authority (FHA) chair Jim Sinclair.
Halford raised the issue during question period in the provincial legislature Tuesday (March 12), raising alarms about what he termed "chaos" in the FHA " for a "number of years."
He described Sinclair as a NDP "political insider" with no health-care experience.
Citing "18-hour waits, pediatric care in portables and unsafe working conditions for our front-line workers," he asked Health Minister Josie Osborne whether Sinclair had her "full confidence and support."
Halford told Peace Arch News Wednesday his remarks followed multiple calls from medical professionals in the riding who had reached out to him, expressing lack of confidence in leadership of the FHA.
"I didn't do this lightly," he said.
"It's not an attack on his character. (But) the leadership of Fraser Health has lost the trust of the front-line workers. There's a lack of transparency. And I have yet to hear from a single doctor or health care worker to tell me otherwise."
Sinclair last week declined comment on Halford's charges. Osborne, meanwhile, is standing by the answer she gave to Halford in the legislature.
"The Fraser Health Authority, the chair, the board members, in fact the board members of every single health authority here in this province, are working hard every day, putting people’s interests first and doing everything that they can to build and support and strengthen our public health care system here in B.C.," she said, at that time.
She noted FHA had added more than 790 new nurses, 510 doctors and 1,000 student nurses in the last two years, and that, rather than filling vacancies, these were new positions.
"We know we need these people to help us deliver health care for people faster, better," she said.
"It is work that I and the health authority are not going to stop doing."
Halford, however, said Osborne's response side-stepped his specific question about confidence in Sinclair's leadership.
"It was a non-answer and that is very telling," he commented to PAN.
"The minister did not give him an endorsement."
Halford said concerns he has heard affect the full gamut of health care services at Peace Arch Hospital and Surrey Memorial Hospital – everything from surgical wait times to strategic planning.
Wait times have climbed as high as 18 hours at SMH and 12 hours at PAH, he noted.
"But it's really all of it," he said.
Similar issues were raised with regard to former FHA CEO Victoria Lee who departed the authority two weeks ago, Halford said.
"Some people would say that was long overdue, and for many of the same reasons," he said.
"But, at the end of the day, it's Jim Sinclair that sets the tone," he said, noting that Sinclair has been the chair since September of 2017, and complaints from front-line health care workers have only increased in that time.
In his comments in the legislature, he said the problem, he stated, is that the FHA chair was a political appointment, not a practical one.
"The NDP have chosen to put one of their biggest political insiders at the helm of Fraser Health, and the results have been absolutely disastrous," he said.
"You have put somebody in there that has no health care experience, that has no support from the front-line workers and clearly, from (your) answer, very little support from this minister."
