Aldergrove-Fort Langley MLA Rich Coleman said pediatrics at Langley Memorial Hospital is off the table of Fraser Health Authority’s proposed cuts to overcome a $160 million shortfall.

“It’s not on the list anymore,” Coleman said on Thursday afternoon.

Langley MLA Mary Polak wants the Fraser Health Authority to look at its own house before cutting patient services like closing LMH’s new pediatrics ward.

“That proposal to close the pediatrics ward concerns me, considering they just did all that expansion. We were assured this (pediatrics’ care) was a focus for Langley,” said Polak.

NDP health critic Adrian Dix obtained the FHA’s draft document that outlines deep cuts to patient services including closing LMH’s maternity and pediatrics wards. Langley’s sick children and pregnant women would have to go to Surrey Memorial for care and for births.

Langley’s maternity ward, including the birthing rooms and family room, were upgraded a few years ago. In February, pediatrics was given a $4.3 million expansion with “state-of-the-art” new surgical beds and equipment. Much of the money for pediatrics improvements came from fundraising in Langley, through the LMH auxiliary and the Foundation’s gala.

The FHA’s leaked document said it will ‘pursue opportunities for consolidation of maternity and pediatric services from low-volume hospitals (less than 1,000 births/patients per year),’ The document lists Langley and Peace Arch as fitting the criteria for consolidation.

“Costs [within the FHA] are ballooning out of control and the first thing they look at is frontline patient services to be cut?” said Polak.

“The health authorities have been given another $2 billion. The health care money continues to flow and we still have these problems. Throwing money at the problem isn’t working. They need to control spending in a responsible way. I’m glad to hear [FHA CEO] Nigel Murray is looking at administrative savings because that’s where he should be looking. They need to get their house in order.”

Polak was the Minister for Healthy Living and was responsible for the B.C.-wide Conversation on Health before becoming Minister of Children and Families.

She points to her new ministry as a place where she is looking at every fine detail to see where savings can be made so front line workers can continue to do their jobs without cuts.

Coleman said the B.C. Liberals asked the health authorities to start looking at the overall business of health care in February and this is the draft proposal they came up with.

“They were going through a process to look at the best delivery of health care. Through discussions and sorting through it, pediatrics is no longer on the table,” he said. He added that he has confidence in Murray’s ability to deliver a good business proposal to run the largest health authority in Canada.

Polak had criticism for the NDP party’s stance on health care in B.C.

“I’m still waiting for their stand on health care. We value a public system, but we can’t eliminate private involvement and we have to be sensible about where we have unionized workers. The NDP rigidly attacks anything that isn’t unionized and is against everything private,” she said.

Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender showed no worry that pediatrics is in trouble.

“There are no plans to do that [close down the ward.] It ain’t gonna happen,” he said on Wednesday. Fassbender co-chairs a Fraser Health Authority municipal advisory panel. He claims the draft is old, contradicting Dix’s statement that the draft was prepared this month.

But Fassbender said he is ‘very clear’ about his support for LMH and its pediatric ward and would fight a plan to close it.

Fassbender, Polak and Coleman cut the ribbon at the pediatrics ward on Feb. 21, along with the FHA board chair.