June 10, 2022

Honourable Adrian Dix, British Columbia Minister of Health
Victoria B.C.

Expression of interest to meet as communicated in the Legislature in May

Dear Honourable Minister,

It has been brought to my attention a transcript of a discussion from inside the Legislature in May where you said you expect that you would meet with me to discuss Orthopaedic surgeries in British Columbia. This is welcome news.

As president of the British Columbia Orthopaedic Association I have been intently listening and learning from my colleagues on their perspectives regarding the state of health care in the hospitals where we work. We have also been sharing ideas on solutions to our significant waitlists and I would very much appreciate the opportunity to share our ideas with you. Solutions that focus on sustainability of our surgical catch up, that could help impact positive change in our hospitals.
Despite all of our efforts to ramp up surgery, the staffing shortages seem to be ongoing, and the ability to get cases done on a weekly basis continues to be a challenge. These challenges are certainly disheartening as we try to catch up on all surgery in British Columbia. Wait times around British Columbia vary dramatically, and our combined efforts are still required to advocate for those patients who are still waiting 1-2 years for their life transforming surgeries.

We believe that by working together, collaborating on ideas and by learning directly from those of us that work on the frontlines, we can improve patient outcomes in this province.

In the meantime, I’m working with health colleagues (orthopaedic and beyond) across British Columbia to collect important surgical and patient data that we look forward to reviewing with you.

I welcome you to come for a tour and meet with me as the orthopaedic surgical lead at Kelowna General Hospital otherwise I’m more than happy to share our thoughts and solutions with you in Vancouver or Victoria.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Cassandra Lane Dielwart MD. FRCSC
President, British Columbia Orthopaedic Association