BC Ferries says it has worked with the province to change the information it’s been putting out regarding medical assured loading to “make it more clear for medical practitioners and patients.”
Nicholas Simons, projected to win a fifth term as Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA, has been fighting to get BC Ferries to follow the letter of the province’s emergency order on medical travel, and picked up where he’d left off after the election.
In a tweet posted Oct. 26, Simons said BC Ferries should change the information about Medical Assured Loading (MAL) on its website, calling the BC Ferries statement on MAL “incorrect, and confusing to medical practitioners and the public.”
BC Ferries’ earlier language on MAL was that it is for “those in need of urgent care where an extended wait at a ferry terminal would cause risk to their health. Medical Assured Loading is not available for non-urgent travel.”
The wording of the emergency order issued July 30 says BC Ferries “must implement all procedures necessary” to ensure someone who arrives at least 30 minutes before a sailing with a valid Travel Assistance Program (TAP) form and a letter from their doctor saying they are travelling “to or from medical treatment” gets loaded onto the next sailing.
The provincial order does not mention any need to demonstrate urgency or risk to health.
Simons said most doctors on the Sunshine Coast are aware of how the order was supposed to be interpreted and he hasn’t yet heard of BC Ferries terminal staff refusing assured loading to anyone with a doctors’ letter and TAP form.
“The problem is doctors who are not from the Sunshine Coast reading the [BC Ferries] website and believe that they have to write a letter, describing the need for urgent, or emergency care,” he said, adding that in some cases doctors were charging for the preparation of MAL letters because they’re under the impression they need to include specifics about the patient’s medical condition.
“In fact, it’s one sentence, one date, one signature.”
BC Ferries told Coast Reporter on Monday that it has now updated the information online to say “MAL is available for those travelling for medical specialist services where their medical practitioner has determined an extended wait at a ferry terminal for a ferry sailing could cause risk to their health.”
Simons said the new wording is still inaccurate.
“A medical practitioner does not have to say in their letter whether or not a wait in the terminal could cause risk to their patient’s health,” Simons said in an email to Coast Reporter after BC Ferries updated its website.
“‘My patient requires priority loading,’ dated and signed on a letterhead, along with a TAP form, is sufficient,” he said.
“Unless the ministerial order changes, people travelling for necessary medical appointments only available off-coast are permitted priority loading.”
