Photo: Colin Dacre
Kelowna residents who need an x-ray this summer may expect much more than normal or have to travel for the exam.
Like almost every part of the healthcare system, Kelowna Medical Imaging, the only X-ray provider in the city outside of KGH, faces major staffing challenges.
Managing partner Dr. David Manders says they have experienced an “unprecedented loss of staff” over the past six or nine months, which has forced the suspension of X-ray services at two of its three Central clinics. Okanagan. Now, only the West Kelowna clinic offers X-rays.
When the three clinics had seven X-ray technologists, they were performing about 200 x-rays a day. Now, the only X-ray technologist has left and some casual employees can complete about 45 a day.
Pending X-rays are being redirected to an already overloaded KGH, or to other hospitals and clinics elsewhere in Okanagan.
Manders says they have lost staff for various reasons, such as the high cost of living in Kelowna, retirement or others going to work for the hospital.
He says they are doing their best to attract staff and will increase capacity as soon as more technologists are hired.
“We have the equipment, we have the buildings, we are paying for all the other employees and people around to support them. We are doing our best to find staff, we have advertised in as many places as we can think,” he said.
“We’re trying to find ways to think outside the box when it comes to finding new technologists as well, either to support technologists as they go through their training to join us later, or if that’s to attract the staff and in other ways, but we are doing our best. “
To make matters worse, Manders says there are fewer people than ever entering the field, with only 28 of the 80 seats in BCIT’s X-ray technologist training program currently occupied. He could only guess why it was so, but he noted that entry requirements have become more difficult in recent years.
“I want to stress that we are doing everything we can to try to help patients and doing everything we can to try to incorporate more staff to help make it easier. We have done everything we can to try to help distribute patients during this difficult time.”
Although X-ray services have been suspended at Kelowna Medical Imaging’s Richter and Orchard Park clinics, other examinations such as mammograms and bone density scans are still being performed at these sites.
Staff shortages have also recently been affecting cancer treatment in Kelowna and nursing homes.