Skip to content

Royal Columbian not accepting new cancer patients due to staff shortages

Due to the review, new cancer patients in New West and the Tri-Cities will be referred to Burnaby or Surrey hospitals
Cancer patient
Royal Columbian Hospital will no longer be accepting new cancer patients as the hospital's oncology department is undergoing a review.

Staff shortages in Royal Columbian Hospital’s oncology department have led to a review of the cancer program making it so no new patients can be accepted.

As a result, Fraser Health Authority will be referring new cancer patients in the New Westminster and the Tri-Cities to hospitals in Vancouver, Burnaby or Surrey. Royal Columbian Hospital’s oncology program normally runs with one full-time and one part-time physician. In February 2021, the full-time physician left the hospital for another job and the health authority was recently made aware that the part-time physician would also be leaving -- prompting the review. 

“Our priority is to ensure that all people who come to us seeking oncology services receive timely access to the care they need,” a statement from Fraser Health reads. “All patients receive appropriate care for their needs and are seen within acceptable time-frames.”

Plan to be finalized in coming weeks

The statement goes on to say that Fraser Health is reviewing the hospital’s model of oncology services. 

“We are working closely with BC Cancer to develop a plan for program sustainment and we expect this plan to be finalized in the coming weeks,” the statement reads.

While those plans are being finalized though, new patients are to be referred to other sites that support Fraser Health oncology patients.

One cancer patient at Royal Columbian has more concerns though.

Life-saving treatment

Coquitlam resident Tom James, 69, has been receiving chemotherapy treatment at Royal Columbian since November 2019. While he says he is mobile, he has seen other patients at the oncology department who are less well off.

“I've been there for a year and a half and I can tell you that people come in with walkers and people come in with wheelchairs and a lot of people with disabilities come into there and there's a concern for me that they're going to be forced to go somewhere else," James said.

James went on to say that he wants to see the program continue and does not understand why there isn’t more of a push to hire new physicians to run the program. 

"There are a lot of people who depend on that life-saving treatment and flushing them especially at this time with a pandemic going on to try and make all new arrangements with their loved ones is not particularly well-meaning," James said. "The job of a hospital is not to make it more difficult to get treatment."