End of in-office surgeries expected to extend RIH’s wait list

KAMLOOPS — Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) will have another reason for long surgical wait times at the end of the month.

On Sept. 30, the College of Physicians and Surgeons will be stopping in-office surgeries performed by pain management doctors and podiatrists (doctors of the foot and ankle).

Kamloops’ only podiatrist, Dr. Sean Lehmann, says this new policy poses an even bigger problem for RIH and other local surgical centres, which are already strained.

“The province is making decisions that makes that worse – I think the public needs to know that,” Dr. Lehmann told CFJC News.

These doctors are fully licensed in B.C. as physicians and surgeons, and they have been performing surgeries in their offices for decades.

Dr. Lehmann claims he has asked for evidence that shows surgeries have been done unsafely.

“They have not produced any data that shows that these surgeries have been done unsafely for decades – so it seems to be a bit more about bureaucracy than a demonstrable need,” he said.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons is headquartered in the Lower Mainland and Dr. Lehmann says the decision is out of touch with the situation in Kamloops.

“We have a single orthopedic surgeon that can do foot surgery. I refer to him. His wait time right now is about two years. I’ve also been able to refer to a colleague of mine that has a surgical facility in Vernon. His wait time is much less. Once his facility closes in Vernon, all those patients will go to the single orthopedic surgeon,” Dr. Lehmann said.

The College says it consulted foot surgeons to decipher if it was safe for podiatrists to continue performing surgeries. They decided it was not up to college standards and surgeries should be performed in hospital.

In an email to CFJC News, the College of Physicians and Surgeons says:

“These decisions were based entirely on existing standards and ensuring patient safety. Existing podiatric offices do not meet these standards, which are required for all other surgical facilities in BC. (These are also similar to standards for podiatric surgery in the United States, where many of our registrants trained, and would be required to meet.

All podiatric surgeons have the option to apply to the College for accreditation if they can meet the standards (again, same as all other surgical facilities in BC), or they can apply for privileges at an existing accredited surgical facility.”

However, Dr. Lehmann says this isn’t an option for Kamloops, which already has fully booked surgical facilities.

“I know this is kind of a small item compared to the overall picture but it’s just an example of decisions being made that exacerbate the problem rather than helping the problem,” he added.