The NDP is calling for Vancouver Coastal Health Authority chair Kip Woodward to be replaced after letters surfaced showing that he advocated for a greater role for private clinics when he was an investor in the province's most prominent for-profit surgical centre.
"I think this raises serious issues," Opposition health critic Adrian Dix said at a news conference yesterday.
Mr. Dix released letters Mr. Woodward wrote last fall to Health Minister Kevin Falcon on the letterhead of his family investment firm, Woodcorp Investments Ltd.
In one of the letters, Mr. Woodward - then chair of Providence Health Care, the organization that runs the large downtown hospital St. Paul's - proposed that Providence be allowed to contract out some services to private clinics.
"The introduction of competition for health care service delivery is the single best tool for cost management, and yet we are prohibited from doing this currently," he told the Health Minister.
Mr. Woodward was an original investor in the Cambie Surgery Centre, run by leading private health-care advocate Brian Day, which opened during the mid-1990s. Woodcorp maintains a stake in the clinic, Dr. Day confirmed.
"Here we have the chair of a major part of the public health-care system, who is also an investor in a for-profit clinic, using his own letterhead from his investment firm to advocate for the interests of private clinics," Mr. Dix said.
"I think it's bad for public health care that he has that job. … It's not acceptable."
He said Mr. Falcon's response to the letters from Mr. Woodward was to promote him last month to chair of the province's largest health region, Vancouver Coastal Health.
Mr. Falcon strongly defended Mr. Woodward against Mr. Dix's accusations, saying his long-ago investment in Dr. Day's clinic is well known, and he is not involved in the day-to-day operation of the family firm.
"He has always acted with the highest integrity, taking not one nickel of remuneration and serving for the public good," the Health Minister said.
"He's done what we asked him and other chairs to do, namely clear their desk and make suggestions about how we can make our health-care system more sustainable, and that's what he's done. I don't think he's done anything even remotely in conflict with any guidelines."
Mr. Woodward was out of the country yesterday and not available for comment.
Dr. Day, meanwhile, pointed out that Mr. Woodward's sister, Robyn Woodward, also associated with the family company, was appointed under the NDP to several prominent health-care positions, despite the investment in his private clinic.
" 'Hello, NDP!' This all started under the NDP. They allowed Robyn Woodward to serve, so it's déja vu for them, and they were the government in power, when we opened."
But Mr. Dix said he was even more perturbed by other proposals Mr. Woodward made to Mr. Falcon.
They included the establishment of revenue-producing services at Providence, such as the leasing of MRI capacity to private insurers, a private eating-disorder clinic, the sales of medical procedures to U.S. citizens, a large addiction treatment centre modelled on the Betty Ford Center, and the provision of for-profit elective surgery.
Mr. Dix said Mr. Woodward's ideas would permit those with money to buy their way to the head of the queue for services.
"He seems to want to use resources the public pays for to give privileged access to a very few groups of people. … It will make health care more expensive, less efficient and allow organized queue-jumping."
The NDP health critic said Mr. Woodward's views represent an extreme view of public health "that anyone who puts extra money on the table would get preferred access to things like AIDS/HIV programs, eating disorder programs, and so on."
In his letters to Mr. Falcon, Mr. Woodward stressed that the public health-care system is unsustainable without more opportunities for business development and revenue growth.
"The assumption that we can maintain a world-class system of health care by focusing exclusively on cost containment is self defeating," he wrote.
"Sooner or later, we have to start talking about cost recovery."