Medical laboratory technologists are concerned that patient care could be compromised if Vancouver Coastal Health's (VCH) proposed solution to work overloads moves ahead.
At a meeting Oct. 1, St. Mary's Hospital lab staff met with VCH to address concerns staff made regarding a chronic state of work overload on its lab technicians. VCH's proposed response is to shut down the microbiology department at St. Mary's Hospital and transfer those specimens to Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).
"We are not cutting services to patients and we are trying to reduce the heavy workload of staff," said Anna Marie D'Angelo, spokesperson for VCH. Protesters quickly organized and held a rally in front of the hospital at noon on Tuesday. Lab staff, their concerned family and members from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Health Sciences Association held signs of opposition to the lab transfer. Leslie Hemphill, whose partner works in the lab, said: "Who's to say we won't lose more services? The hospital is growing. The community is growing. Why are they taking services from an acute care hospital?"
D'Angelo said due to a shortage of lab technicians to staff individual labs, it is becoming commonplace to transfer microbiology specimens to VGH's tertiary centre.
She said Lion's Gate Hospital, University of British Columbia Hospital and, most recently, Squamish General Hospital all send their microbiology specimens to VGH. She said she expects VGH will receive only 25 specimens a day on average from St. Mary's.
D'Angelo said the turn-around time for results will not be affected, but when asked about the difference being a ferry-dependent community with unpredictable sailing times and cuts to the number of sailings per week would make on that commitment, she did not have an answer.
Union member Dustin Amaral steadied his protest poster from flying in the wind with one hand and pumped the air with a fist as passing traffic honked their support for the protesters. "I'm appalled that they're letting this happen," he said.
Employees said that if a specimen gets to their lab after 3:30 p.m., it won't be ready for courier pick up at 4 p.m., which means the specimen will wait 24 hours before it even leaves St. Mary's to head for the ferry. Currently, a specimen can be analyzed within an hour to a day depending on the type of specimen and urgency of the situation.
Amaral also worried that if VGH is busy with their own work, they will shove aside Coast cases, slowing down the process even more.
Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, attended Tuesday's rally. "Decisions get made without taking into account with a lack of understanding of our geographical location," Simons said. "The needs of this community have to be protected. We're being reduced by hundreds of little cuts. This is a loss of actual infrastructure in the hospital, of equipment, and the information was not properly dispensed to employees."
D'Angelo said further discussions will be held with hospital staff, including the physicians, to gather more input on the situation. A final decision will be made some time in November.
