Photo: Oliver Daily News

Dr. Peter Entwistle (right) sparked conversations in the area over hospital beds after resigning as chief of staff at the hospital.

A pair of mayors have publicly expressed concern to the Interior Health Authority over staffing and a perceived removal of beds at the South Okanagan General Hospital, with hopes of keeping the issue at the forefront in the area.

Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff signed onto the letter penned at Oliver Town Hall, also signed by Mayor Ron Hovanes, which raises local concerns over beds at SOGH. Late last month, the hospital's chief of staff Dr. Peter Entwistle resigned from that position in protest of a potential removal of six physical beds from acute care.

Those six beds complement 18 funded beds in the hospital's acute care wing, and IH has told Castanet that if the unfunded beds were removed, it wouldn't affect hospital operations, despite Entwistle's protesting.

Hovanes says councillors in Oliver decided to write a letter to IH detailing their concerns and asking officials with the health authority to visit town hall to talk about the plan moving forward and assure councillors that there won't be a reduction in service at SOGH.

"As we were writing that letter, Carl Meadows from Interior Health phoned within the next day or two," Hovanes said. "He and the chief of staff from the Penticton hospital ... they came to our council meeting and the Osoyoos council meeting and they did offer assurances that our hospital is running well, it will be maintained and staffed. The capital projects that are planned are going forward.

"They're doing their very, very best to schedule the emergency room and to look at a longer-lasting solution for the staffing of the emergency room."

According to the letter, those six beds were removed from SOGH about five years ago, and to this day the mayors say health care in the area has been affected.

Now that IH officials have paid a visit to both councils, Hovanes says there remain some issues, including differences of staffing between Penticton Regional Hospital and SOGH, such as how many hours and how they are paid.

"Those are logistics that Interior Health is working on and trying to make it work," Hovanes said. "We have something like 17 or 18 doctors in Oliver and Osoyoos, but not all of them participate in the emergency room operations ... so there have been times when it's fallen on the backs of a few to keep the emergency room open."

On that note, the letter poses a question to the health authority: who is obliged to keep the ER staffed and running?

"We've sort of been led to believe from Interior Health that a joint responsibility between Interior Health and the local doctors that participate in the hospital," Hovanes said. "But some of those logistics and those types of things are something that they have to work out themselves."

Entwistle's resignation, according to Hovanes, was the spark that got conversations going around the issue, which Hovanes acknowledges isn't unique to SOGH.

IH has reportedly agreed to return to the town halls in six months to provide an update on the issue.

"I think that's good as well. We said as a council we want to make sure this isn't something that just goes away and is forgotten," Hovanes said. "Emergency rooms in hospitals has been an issue for some time. Princeton is one. Princeton, over the past, they've had their emergency room shut down a number of times."

Castanet reached out to IH for a comment on the letter on Tuesday, and received the following statement late in the day on Wednesday.

"Interior Health did receive a letter from the mayors of Oliver and Osoyoos regarding South Okanagan General Hospital today. We look forward to reviewing the contents of the letter and responding in due time."

An IH spokesperson said a full statement would be provided in the future.

In a public notice on its website, the Town of Osoyoos notes that it works with other authorities and governments to encourage physicians to work in the area, and attempts to foster an economic environment that does the same.