Transport

This past year, the Transport team continued targeting its advocacy efforts towards building relationships with BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), the BC Ministry of Health, and the health authorities in order to have a strong voice in system change. The team’s major commitment has been its participation in the Provincial Patient Transfer Service Oversight Committee (PPT-SOC), which began as a forum between BCEHS and the health authorities to discuss transfers between facilities. Two years ago, the PPT-SOC added a rural physician voice as an observer, then as a full member.

When the pandemic began, the PPT-SOC focused on COVID-related transport issues and expanded the membership to include senior medical and operations directors from BCEHS, and representatives from the BC Ministry of Health. PPT-SOC meetings were held daily in the initial months of the pandemic, then transitioned to two to three times per week in the Fall, depending on the situation.

The terms of reference for the PPT-SOC were modified to include rural membership on an ongoing basis, and the Transport team provided input into the development of the provincial COVID response plan for BCEHS, plans for Community Cohort Centres, non-emergency transport options to move rural patients closer to tertiary care, and policy implementation around implementing a 911-style response for small communities without hospitals needing to evacuate acute patients. Although targeted for a pandemic response, these measures will transition to improved support for rural communities once the pandemic is under control.

In April of 2020, Premier Horgan announced a new Framework for Rural, Remote and Indigenous Communities, which included adding 55 ground ambulances and five air resources to BCEHS. These improvements are intended to continue post-pandemic. The Transport team has a spot on the provincial Rural and Remote Planning Committee, tasked with short- and long-term implementation of the rural framework. This initial COVID response has been implemented, but long-term planning is currently on hold, pending further pandemic developments.

The Transport team also participated in initial meetings to establish a provincial partnership table around transport issues. This was to be housed in the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), and a large group was brought together virtually in the Fall to explore the challenges. With subsequent staff changes and reorganizations within PHSA, these plans are not proceeding and alternative options are being explored.

Finally, the Transport team initiated a bimonthly transport discussion to bring together rural leaders involved in transport issues throughout a number of different areas of the system. The discussions enable participants to touch base and align efforts and ensure a coordinated series of actions at different levels of the healthcare system. There are also plans for a forum where individual rural doctors throughout BC can bring issues forward. This has generated a pending research study, which would involve collecting stories around the rural transport experience with a patient-focused lens. Work is expected to begin later in 2021, pending ethics approval.