Kamloops MLAs say Interior Health cancelled deal with OB/GYNs after election

Maternity doctors opting to leave Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops tried since last summer to negotiate a new deal with the province and Interior Health, according to area MLAs.

The seven obstetrics and gynecological specialists told Interior Health they would be resigning their privileges at the hospital last month as they faced increasing pressure to keep up with a high workload, but that followed the health authority’s decision to stop negotiating.

That’s what Kamloops-Centre MLA Peter Milobar said on Monday, Oct. 20, citing an email the health authority sent to the doctors on Oct. 10.

“They thought they had a deal with this government just before the last election and like every other election promise this government did, it disappeared,” he said.

A year after the provincial election, the specialists then sent a letter on Oct. 1 to Interior Health and the health ministry saying they needed to see the reforms they would “consider resignation” due to burnout and fear for patient safety, according to Milobar who is the BC Conservative finance critic.

“Nine days later, 4:30 p.m. on a Friday of a long weekend, Interior Health notified the OB/GYNs there would be no further negotiations and in fact their resignations would be accepted,” he said in the legislature.

Health Minister Josie Osborne responded to say anyone going into labour or with pregnancy risks should still go to Royal Inland Hospital, while Interior Health is willing to talk with the doctors. She said the health authority will be speaking with 12 other specialists.

North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer told iNFOnews.ca the failed negotiations amount to the doctors getting fired rather than a resignation. He couldn’t say what issues were specifically unresolved during negotiations or what agreement was struck before the election.

He did say Interior Health and the health ministry should come forward with previous negotiations they had with the doctors and follow through with the work done before the 2024 election.

“Nobody wants to walk away, but the reality is I don’t think Interior Health and the ministry are being entirely truthful when it comes to what actually transpired with a proposed plan that started in the summer of 2024,” Stamer said.

With the hospital’s seven specialists preparing to resign, Interior Health CEO Sylvia Weir told iNFOnews.ca last week nothing will change for patients in the short term as the doctors will continue to work during a transition period.

What the doctors, the ministry and Interior Health negotiated last year and whether it amounted to an agreement, hinging on the election results, isn’t known.

iNFOnews.ca reached out to both the health authority and the health ministry for comment. The ministry deferred questions to Interior Health, and Interior Health did not immediately respond.