Latest report on BC’s health care system shows more failures to support Indigenous people

Indigenous peoples in B.C. have inequitable access to preventative and primary health-care services, which perpetuates poorer health outcomes for First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations in the province, the final report of the Addressing Racism Review shows.

A comprehensive data report, released today by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, independent reviewer, brings together the data and information collected by the review, which was commissioned by B.C.’s Minister of Health in June 2020. The data report follows up on “In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-Specific Racism in B.C. Health Care” full and summary reports released on Nov. 30, 2020.

“Our extensive review of data reveals a system that does not provide Indigenous peoples with sufficient and safe access to primary and preventative care, and is therefore skewed towards emergency and specialized treatment,” Turpel-Lafond said. “Indigenous peoples have substantially less access to physician services and less attachment to primary care practitioners.

“When you combine these factors with the overwhelming evidence of racism in the health-care system – which we explored in depth in our previous reports – it’s not difficult to see why health outcomes for Indigenous peoples are poorer. New initiatives are positive attempts to fill this void, like the First Nations Health Authority’s (FNHA) ‘Virtual Doctor of the Day,’ however, a full continuum of care and networks of First Nations-led primary care are needed to overcome the serious deficiencies we found for Indigenous peoples.”

The initial “In Plain Sight” reports offered 24 recommendations to eliminate Indigenous-specific racism and make health care safer and more effective in British Columbia. This data report builds on those earlier reports and offers baseline measurement of how the system is performing for Indigenous peoples, featuring more detailed breakdowns of the data, including by region.

The data report includes a more comprehensive look at the results of surveys of Indigenous peoples using the health-care system and of B.C.’s health-care workers, as well as the review’s collection of individual submissions detailing experiences of racism in health care. Together, these represented the perspectives of nearly 9,000 people.

It also features a closer examination of health-system utilization and health outcome data analyzed by the review – data which reflects approximately 185,000 Indigenous individuals. These data focus on primary care and hospital services and health outcomes, including chronic conditions and mortality, as well as the association of racism with other self-reported health and wellness indicators. Data examining priority issues, such as the two current public health emergencies and mental health and wellness are included, as are data regarding patient complaints and comments from participants in San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety training.