VICTORIA, BC: The Conservative Official Opposition is calling on David Eby’s NDP government to provide Surrey’s hospital patients with the kind of care that patients in other parts of the province routinely expect.
A new survey of 83 hospitals in Canada places Surrey Memorial Hospital in 83rd and last position, based on over 1,500 Google reviews by patients and family members. In contrast, Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver is ranked number one, St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver is ranked number five, and both Vancouver General and Lion’s Gate Hospital place in the top 10 for patient satisfaction.
“David Eby and his government put hospital patients first,” provided that they live in Vancouver or the North Shore,” said Anna Kindy, MLA for North Island and Conservative Official Opposition Health Critic. “Surrey patients go to the very back of the line, 83rd position, to be exact.”
“Scathing comments – in over 1,500 Google reviews – tell us the real story about what’s going on at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The NDP treat Surrey patients like second-class citizens, while patients in Vancouver and the North Shore get top 10 treatment,” said Linda Hepner, MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River.
Just this week, Nav Kaur wrote, “I am writing to express my deep concern about the standard of care in this hospital’s emergency department. On multiple occasions, I have experienced extremely long wait times — in one instance, over 8 hours — without ever being seen by a doctor. Patients are often told their cases are “not urgent,” making them to wait for hours despite being in visible distress.”
“Imagine struggling to breathe and being left to wait 8 hours — it’s both heartbreaking and unacceptable. Such delays are dangerous and deeply distressing, especially for those arriving in serious condition.”
Other reviewers described their experience at the hospital as “inhumane,” wrote of “the worst experience I’ve ever had at a hospital,” said “third world country hospitals are better than this” and said “if Zero stars was possible I’d give it even below that – this place is below even dirt.”
“One bad review is understandable – even dozens – but hundreds of reviews describing this level of severity and dysfunction point to a systemic breakdown at Surrey Memorial Hospital,” said Dr. Kindy. “This is about equity of care and fair distribution of resources, which is not happening here.”