Photo: Oliver Daily News

Dr. Peter Entwistle (right) resigned this week as the South Okanagan General Hospital's chief of staff.

There will be no impact on patients at the South Okanagan General Hospital if six physical beds are removed from acute care, according to Boundary-Similkameen's Victoria representative.

The hospital has 24 physical beds in the department, 18 of which are taxpayer funded, while the remaining six are extras. The hospital's chief of staff Dr. Peter Entwistle stepped down from that position in protest of what he says is a looming removal of those extra beds.

Entwistle told Castanet that when MLA Linda Larson was at an all-candidates forum last week, she told the crowd that the six beds would be removed to provide more single-bed rooms. When asked about it, however, Larson simply referred to an Interior Health statement on the issue.

Larson and IH say there will be no change to patient care with 18 beds funded before and 18 beds continuing to be funded.

"That is not changing," Larson said. "(The other six beds) have never been funded.... They may be used randomly at times, but they are not funded for use. A funded bed means that there is support staff that comes along with it."

Those six beds are still used at least occasionally, according to both Larson and Entwistle, but it's still not clear whether their removal would have an impact on patient care or not.

"You seem to be scrambling for something to say," Larson said when asked what was going on with the six beds Entwistle resigned over. "This is not a crisis situation, nor has there been any change at the hospital. It still gives extraordinary care to everyone who walks through the door."

Larson deferred a follow-up question on the discrepancy between Entwistle's statements and that of the government and health authority to Interior Health and Entwistle.

"Both of them have been very clear. Dr. Entwistle said he has an issue and Interior Health says there isn't," Larson said. "I have lived here for 28 years, and there is not a crisis. And if there was, then my government would be on top of it immediately."

Larson sought to assure that the question of the six beds is a non-issue.

"Nothing is changing. Simply, the chief of staff has resigned as the chief of staff; he is still maintaining his practice," she said. "Interior Health will put another chief of staff in as quickly as possible."