It takes a village to ensure transparency and accountability in the healthcare system.
Currently, we are right in the middle of respiratory illness season — as we always are at this time of year.
But unlike at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, local data about cases is no longer readily available.
Nevertheless, our readership is interested in that information. In Prince Rupert, access to the hospital has been restricted for several weeks because of an influenza outbreak. And in other areas, where there are no verifiable hotspots, rumours have inevitably taken hold.
So we set out to find some numbers.
While the BC Centre for Disease Control does still have some very generalized data on trends in COVID, influenza and pneumonia cases, the detailed numbers for health regions and local health areas are no longer readily available.
And when we ask for them, we get this:
“We don’t normally release information on a hospital or community level, for patient privacy reasons,” a spokesperson for the Northern Health Authority said.
This is utter nonsense. We were even told previously that patient privacy also prohibited them from disclosing how many beds are in the Bulkley Valley District Hospital. Just try to wrap your head around that one. We’re not asking for the names of the patients in those beds, or what they’re being treated for, but simply the number of beds.
Individual patient medical information is, of course, protected by privacy legislation in B.C. and Canada, but the law does not apply to statistics.
The health authority either doesn’t understand the legislation, is purposely obfuscating, or is being non-transparent for other unknown reasons. We know they have the data because they are required to report it.
COVID has become endemic, just like the flu, so there is no longer the urgency of daily updates of cases, but if a newspaper reporter or a member of the public wants to know, we have a right to see that data.
It’s a matter of public health.
Looks like it’s time to brush off the old Freedom of Information form.
A little public pressure would not hurt either. It takes a village.