March 3, 2023
BC Health Budget Breakdown – BC Rural Health Network – Budget 2023
Budget Highlights
The BC government has allocated $28.6 billion, more than a third of the provincial budget, for healthcare spending in 2023. This represents an increase of almost $6.4 billion over three years. The investments aim to improve cancer care, the health-care workforce, mental health facilities and resources, urgent primary care centers, pay for physicians, maternity care, and the parliamentary secretary for rural health.
An initial investment of $440 million in cancer care will expand cancer-care teams and service hours, introduce revised pay structures, improve screening programs, and support cancer research. Moreover, $270 million will be added to the BC Cancer’s budget to expand access to imaging, treatments, and radiation therapy.
For the health-care workforce, the government has allocated almost $1 billion to recruit, train, and retain workers, adding 1,700 health care staff and training 3,000 more graduates.
The government has earmarked more than $1 billion for mental health supports, including capital investments. This funding means that over the next three years, the Province will add $1 billion in new resources on mental health and substance use care.
To expand urgent and primary care centers, the province will spend $4 billion over the next three years.
The government has also increased pay for physicians under a new three-year Physician Master Agreement, with a full-time family doctor being paid about $385,000 a year, up from the current average of $250,000.
The expansion of maternity care adds 20 new seats to UBC’s midwifery program, including 12 new seats in the bachelor of midwifery program and 8 new seats in the Internationally Educated Midwives Bridging Program (IEMBP).
The creation of a new position of Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health (PSRH) is significant and acknowledges the need for a rural focus on rural health. The mandate letter for the PSRH includes B.C.’s Health Human Resources Strategy, working with rural, remote, and First Nations communities to identify gaps in health care services, and reviewing the Travel Assistance Program to improve access to medical appointments.
Comments
The BC Rural Health Network notes that there is no mention of any rural-specific investments in rural healthcare systems outside of the PSRH position and some assistance in travel for oncology needs. The lack of any rural focus to new healthcare worker positions is concerning, as rural areas face closures to emergency rooms and the transfer of patients for routine care due to a lack of staff. The network recommends allocating some seats for rural students, which could result in higher returns of medical staff to rural life.
The budget is criticized for continuing to invest in urban solutions for urban health benefits and ignoring the need for system change in rural areas. The UPCC model, although having benefits for gap coverage in urban and small urban populations, has not been effective in addressing the needs of rural residents. The network recommends team-based care and longitudinal care, which are essential to rural health systems and desperately needed in all communities that have only one point of access to primary and emergency care.
In conclusion, the BC Rural Health Network commends the government for investing in the future health of British Columbians and acknowledging the need to improve healthcare and mental health access across the province. However, it urges the government to allocate rural-specific investments in rural healthcare systems and to prioritize team-based care and longitudinal care to address the needs of rural residents.
We respectfully remind the Premier and the Minister of Health that we are all afforded equitable access to healthcare under section 12 of the Canada Health Act. Rural specific investment in new systems will be the only way we will achieve this.
We would like to help in improving the system.
The BCRHN is the healthcare voice of the rural residents of British Columbia and seeks better health outcomes for all people, through solutions-based approaches with governments, and information provision to residents.
The BCRHN is grateful to live, work, and be in relation with people from across many traditional and unceded territories, covering all regions of British Columbia. We are honoured to live on this land and are committed to reconciliation, decolonization, and building relationships in our communities.
