HSA in the news

The Tyee

The Province Surely an emergency? My three-year-old granddaughter has a severe involuntary tic, and we were told by a neurologist she may have a brain tumour. She's been on a MRI waiting list for over six months. Completely unacceptable! We 've been told that the list is long and we have to go to a larger centre to have this...

Abbotsford News By Jeff Nagel Wait times for non-urgent MRI scans have ballooned to 20 months in Abbotsford, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health. In addition, the wait is as much as 18 months at several Lower Mainland hospitals, according to a survey released by the NDP. NDP health critic Adrian Dix said the estimates were gathered...

Global TV

Vancouver Sun By Pamela Fayerman, Rob Shaw and Richard Watts Sources: Canwest News Service and Times Colonist The provincial government is changing the way it funds B.C.'s largest hospitals, a move health officials hope will lead to faster, better treatment. The new system will provide financial incentives to those hospitals that demonstrate they can treat more patients quickly and cost-effectively...

Vancouver Sun By Vaughan Palmer The B.C. Liberals are celebrating the success to date of their "net zero mandate" for contract negotiation as a growing number of public sector unions are settling for two-year deals at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The hold-the-line mandate looked suspect when it was announced last September. The Liberals were drawing the line when...

Columbia Valley News Union displeased with status quo budget by Lynn Knell While BC Government Finance Minister is smiling about his ministrys commitment to health care, the Health Sciences Association of BC, the union that represents 16,000 diagnostic, clinical and rehabilitation specialists, is not. Reid Johnson, President of the HSA is warning British Columbians to brace themselves for yet another...

TheTyee.ca By Andrew MacLeod Finance Minister Colin Hansen today presented a budget that shrinks the civil service and makes cuts across several ministries while keeping spending for health and education steady. Hansen pitched it as a budget that would build on momentum from hosting the Olympics and would support children and families. Observers criticized it for abandoning earlier government priorities...

Business in Vancouver By Noa GlobermanMillions of patients travel to places like Belgium, Costa Rica and South Africa annually to undergo urgent or elective medical procedures. Whether it's to avoid the high costs, long waits or poor quality they usually associate with their local health systems, the prognosis remains medical tourism is fast becoming a multibillion-dollar industry. "What if we...

Vancouver Sun Re: Public sector unions should push for more private involvement, Nov. 17 Let's be clear about what privatized health care is about. It has nothing to do with universal access. It is a method of generating enormous profits from your illness or injury -- no more, no less. Dr. Brian Day, author of the Issues & Ideas piece...