An Abbotsford charter coach operator says she is one of many drivers who could be sidelined by a bureaucratic backlog.
Katharine Wallace has been on medical unemployment since the beginning of June, after a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea. The diagnosis meant her licence had to be revoked. Since then, her doctor has cleared her to return to work. It乌鸦传媒檚 been several weeks now, and no sign of her licence being reinstated.
乌鸦传媒淚 phoned ICBC to inquire about the process,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淚 was advised that they were 100 days backlogged and working on submissions from April 11.乌鸦传媒�
Wallace has done the math and that puts her case into a worker乌鸦传媒檚 hands around February 2024. Her unemployment coverage ends at the end of October, and according to her physician, she can do her job.
乌鸦传媒淭his is untenable,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淭he fallout from this issue could be catastrophic for me as I am behind the eight-ball, so to speak. I do not wish to become a statistic and I feel quite powerless.乌鸦传媒�
Wallace has even reached out to her MLA, Bruce Banman, for help. She乌鸦传媒檚 waiting to hear if anyone can possibly speed things up, and in the meantime, has found alternative work to pay the bills.
乌鸦传媒淚 do not know how many people within ICBC process medical documentation but that means there are many others ahead of me who are being held up as well,乌鸦传媒� she said.
When asked about the apparent backlog, an ICBC media spokesperson clarified that medical issues are handled by RoadSafetyBC, which is operated by the provincial government.
The RoadSafetyBC website explains that its 乌鸦传媒淒river Fitness Program team reviews all driver medical fitness cases.乌鸦传媒�
乌鸦传媒淭he team includes intake agents, adjudicators and case managers who are nurses. Adjudicators make most driver fitness decisions, but case managers decide on complicated cases and consult with adjudicators.乌鸦传媒�
The team follows the when making driver medical fitness decisions.
The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General responded to an email regarding the file, noting RoadSafetyBC cannot speak to any individual乌鸦传媒檚 file, and that they review more than 200,000 medical assessments a year.
乌鸦传媒淒river Medical Fitness files are triaged by the program based first on medical urgency and then reviewed in the date order they are received,乌鸦传媒� the ministry explained via email. 乌鸦传媒淎s drivers have a wide range of medical conditions, it is difficult to estimate time frames for reviews, due to the unique nature of each file.乌鸦传媒�
Like many other backlogs, this one is partly due to the pandemic.
乌鸦传媒淎t the onset of the pandemic, medical assessment requirements were halted, but now have been restarted, with the result that the volume of medical assessments are currently higher than usual,乌鸦传媒� the email continued.
Still, there may be hope for Wallace, and others like her.
乌鸦传媒淒ue to the higher than usual program volumes as well as some medical complexities, depending on the individual circumstances some cases can take around 100 days to be processed; there is however an escalatory procedure for case review for drivers who are without a driver乌鸦传媒檚 license and have communicated to us that a lengthy delay in review may cause extreme hardship such as loss of job, significant financial loss, etc.乌鸦传媒�
RoadSafetyBC is also working on digitizing and transforming Driver Medical Fitness 乌鸦传媒渢o increase the efficiency of the program and ensure increasing volumes can be managed while meeting service demands.乌鸦传媒�
The project aims to reduce processing times and backlogs, improve customer service and communication, and improve tracking and reporting of data through automated information collection methods, they stated.
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