Today, Global TV is applauding their ‘exclusive’ role in broadcasting the Kevin Falcon press release news story about patient centered funding in hospitals. Global says big changes are coming that will be announced next week to less friendly media.
In reports, Global is conflating disparate issues. Thursday News Hour introduced a man who had successful spinal surgery at Lions Gate Hospital. They showed LGH surgeons and claimed this great care was achieved by the results oriented funding that is proposed for much of BC’s hospital system. I had a total knee replacement at LGH in 2007 and they were already running a fast track surgical joint replacement clinic, without benefit of this so called new funding system. I was in and out of hospital in less than 48 hours.
While I’m sure the Minister and advocates of a private health system were pleased, I see this as irresponsible, agenda driven reporting. It is prima facie evidence that the BC Liberal Government is in league with Canwest Global news operations, in print and in broadcasts. Here is a story about public business dealt out as an exclusive by Kevin Falcon, Mr. Big of BC political manipulation. Apparently the quid pro quo that Global TV paid was more softball treatment of Liberal scandals.
Tonight, Keith Baldrey barely mentioned the Casino influence peddling story, using 11 seconds to report the NDP will raise the controversy in next week’s question period. No detail, no timelines, no background. Global TV is almost ignoring the scandal, which The Gazetteer calls ‘Casino Royale’.
This is the treatment they gave BC Rail, “Move along folks, nothing to see here.” In Casino Royale, the house has been exposed; caught red-handed, cheating in a rigged game.
We’ll talk later about health system changes. It is enough to say now that bureaucrats, politicians and hangers-on (the Premier and his schedule mistress included) toured the world, studying healthcare in the world’s great cities. Paris, after all, is particularly beautiful, any time of year. Finally, they are ready to bring down a policy change. Patient centered funding. Tried before? Yes. Will it last? No.
To manage healthcare in British Columbia, we pay substantial salaries to unqualified ministry officials and patronage appointees. As a result, senior personnel have been incompetent and inexperienced and the management system functioned poorly. That led to introduction of new managers, mandated to fix continuing problems. New people are there to make changes. So they do.
The most obvious innovations have been employed and discarded by earlier regimes. In truth, management systems evolve in a circular fashion, moving from A to B then C, and back to A. There are limited possibilities and each scheme, while new to the team that implements it, is old hat to jaded workers who watch management teams come and go.
As always, excellent healthcare depends on the integrity of patient level care providers.
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Categories: BC Liberals, Global TV, Health, Journalism
IN-SIGHTS 
Just wait, there is a major scandal brewing with the Lottery Branch of the government, with some 'fixing' of games. The Lottery Branch is heavily involved with the casinos and we may see the RCMP knocking on the Legislature's doors once again!
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Anonymous, if you share information, we can try to connect the dots and protect your privacy.
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Patient centered funding is what BC used to have. Hospitals kept patients longer than necessary because empty beds meant reduced cash flow. One patient stayed until they had another patient ready to take the bed.
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Norman,
It's so important to keep connecting those dots between what appears to be the surfacing of Organized Crime … and … legitimate taxpayer $$$.
BC Rail was a ham-fisted piece of skulduggery in my view but the perps were successful in managing the file so as to protect themselves …
Casino Royale on the other hand appears to have stepped out in front — beyond caring what anybody thinks — into the realm where they can be tracked, stopped, and charged.
Lottery branch too … which appears to have infected the publicly-owned ICBC.
Thank you, Norman … and RossK … and Sean Holman … and all who love this province enough to work on cleaning it up.
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I've caught two nights in a row of Glow Ball's glowing endorsements of the BC liaR's latest planned “improvement” to public health care and if it wasn't so scary, I would laugh. Our little hospital here in my Kootenay community is once again under attack with threat of more bed closures, reduced hours and services, loss of our helipad, or putting it somewhere else that would require an ambulance ride to the helicopter – for damned real estate development essentially on PUBLIC OWNED LAND. I've heard from physicians that things are peachy and the funding flows from the sky down at the coast, but here in the hurtland, much more improvement to health care like we've suffered the last eight years will KILL US (as have improvements to date in many cases)!
Perhaps the scariest part of the first night's coverage of Falcon's new brilliant notion was a segment where Dr. Brian Day sang its praises. That alone means I hate it. Now that Obama has sold out the rest of America to the Insurance Industry, why doesn't Dr. Day just move down there, where it already is the way he thinks it should be?
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Excellent post Norman.
I made the mistake of tuning in to the Ledgie Boys this morning….It is amazing to me how they blow off Casino Royale by saying that it is a 'stretch' for anyone to think that $50K to the Liberals on Election Day by the good Mr. Turner would have affected the outcome without even mentioning the fact the Mr. Turner was once the Chair of BC Lott Corp until Dec 2005, that he was involved with Paragon the Casino Builder at least as early as 2003, and that he, together with Paragon bought the Edgewater's license (which will be flipped out to the C.Royale) in 2006 just 9 months after Mr. Turner resigned from the BCLC (but stayed with ICBC)…..
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Anon Above – can you provide us with a link to the previous issues with patient-centered funding? Thanks in advance.
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Visit the CKNW archives, listen to the last 5 minutes before the 11 am news during Michael Smyth's audition. Count the errors and items of misinformation.
Example: Environmentalists oppose clean power,even “run-of-the river' projects that are no more than a small weir.
After 11 am news, Smyth is exposing that major problem of seniors' driving records. Gotta hammer the big stories.
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BCMary, you set the standard for dot connection. Thank you.
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kootcoot, excellent point, you make the connection clear as Day.
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RossK: I know a personal example. When I was 19, I spent 14 days in Powell River hospital after uncomplicated surgery for pilonidal sinus. One of my sons had the same thing done a while ago as day surgery. A doctor in P.R. told me later that hospital income in those days affected lengths of stay.
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The “Ledgie boys” are so deep up “gordo the impaller” ass it is damn scary. They could grow some balls and tell the truth, but I wouldn't hope my breath. They are so biased about the government's position on anything. Remember kids, this is the only government in Canada that is run by a convicted drug abuser. Food for thought isn't it?
Kam Lee
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Norm, regarding:
“Example: Environmentalists oppose clean power,even “run-of-the river' projects that are no more than a small weir.”
We did a post last December over at:
http://www.eloisecharet.ca/waterwalk.php
that clearly shows what a lie that is. Actually there is a lot of information over there at WaterWalk, not just in the blog, but the main site of Eloise's in which the blog is embedded. We tend to focus on the Glacier-Howser scam because it is the one closest to approval in our backyard. Between the blog and the main site there are photos, many documents and links to more information. Eloise herself is quite the woman with passion for the earth, water and living things – her story going back to the Killing Fields is amazing.
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