Premier Campbell admitted that his government was responsible for delays in heart surgery. Of course he didn't say it in just those words but that is the reasonable interpretation of his remarks. Campbell announced that $5 million would be "invested" to improve access to cardiac care. $3 million of that will be used to provide an additional 160 open heart surgeries; the balance will purchase specialized drug coated stents used to hold open blocked arteries. What makes the announcement an admission of past failure is that, according to the CBC, Campbell said the money was "found" within the existing health care budget. In other words, after three years of management by the Campbell government, health wait lists will now be made slightly shorter because they found $5 million that was misallocated to lower priorities. The budget for the Ministry of Health is almost $11 billion ($10,558,445,000). A $5 million reallocation is a change of less than 5 one hundredths of one percent; it's like comparing a nickel to a hundred dollar bill.

The Ministry of Health website for wait lists reveals that as of April 30, 2004, there were 409 people waiting for cardiac surgery. About 3,000 heart surgeries are done each year in one of the four BC hospitals that perform the procedure. For the people who have faced worrying delays, the additional funds will at least provide some relief, but they must wonder why it couldn't have been done last year. Campbell blamed previous delays on a shortage in critical care nurses, and went on to say that a record number of surgeries were done last year because of "the hard work of managers and providers in the system". His announcement conveniently comes a month before the September 13th meeting of first ministers with Prime Minister Martin to discuss the health care agenda.

In the past Campbell and his colleagues have been very critical of the provincial wait list data. They are correct to point out that it depends on decisions made by physicians, and often does not include the wait to see a specialist. That is why it is important to supplement the wait list information with hard data on the number of surgeries that are performed. Those hard data are nowhere to be found on the government website, although you have probably seen many government advertisements that refer to an increase in the number of surgeries.