Letter to the Editor

We all want affordable and efficient health care services.  I want to share an example how we should be able to learn from other jurisdictions in our country.

My daughter and one of my grandchildren were visiting from Alberta over the holiday season.  My grandson has had some bouts of “strep throat” in the recent past.  When similar symptoms arose while visiting, my daughter thought she would follow the process she uses in Alberta to confirm a diagnosis and get medical advice on how to proceed.

In Alberta she would go to a local pharmacy and have the pharmacist do a throat swab and a diagnostic test  for strep throat for a fee.  If the test was positive the pharmacist would then discuss options and proceed to provide an appropriate course of action that could include prescription medicine that would be dispensed by the pharmacist at the time.

This would not involve making a doctor appointment, going to a drop in clinic or to a hospital emergency room. It would not involve waiting for opening hours, long line ups or take up the time of busy medical professionals. The pharmacy has flexible hours of operation covering weekends and evenings when patients often get ill.

Now back to the B.C situation.

My daughter called several Cranbrook pharmacies and was told that they did not offer such a service. One pharmacy said it was aware of a pharmacy in Kimberley that did offer such a service. After contacting two Kimberley pharmacies she was told that the “strep throat” test could be done for a fee.

We proceeded to Kimberley and my grandson had the test completed by a local pharmacist.

The pharmacist informed us that once the test was completed she would not be able to prescribe or give medication if the test was positive for strep throat. This appeared to be inefficient and not very productive if a B.C. pharmacist had the tools and expertise to offer the test but could not prescribe and administer the medication to address the health issue.

The pharmacist agreed fully and expressed her frustration with the province’s rule on this. She did not understand why the B.C. Ministry of Health would not approve the follow up process to prescribe and dispense the proper medication to the patient when approval has been given to pharmacies to offer the test.

Okay, I think you can see my point. We have a simple, cost efficient and effective model that is very successful next door in our sister province.  We have an inefficient and half-hearted attempt to offer this same service in B.C.

I realize this is one example in a large complex health care system that could perhaps help in a small way. Our politicians and bureaucrats need to work harder at looking at solutions that are working and actually implement them.

Douglas McLachlan,

Cranbrook

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