Dix blames Telus for B.C. call centre failure

British Columbia's health minister is blaming Telus after call centres booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments were overwhelmed, especially in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.

Adrian Dix says the company was contracted to provide call centres in all health authorities and there were problems across B.C. yesterday, resulting in only about 15,000 appointments being booked.

Vancouver Coastal Health had the lowest number of bookings at 369 and Dix says that's because it was the only authority that did not have a backup call centre in addition to the one provided by Telus.

However, he says Vancouver Coastal is in the business of health care and Telus is in the business of call centres, and the company must be held accountable for letting down the health authority as well as everyone who was eligible for appointments.

Dix says the company assured the province as late as 9 p.m. Sunday night that the call centres were adequately staffed, but he says clearly that wasn't the case and more people were trained overnight and today to answer calls.

Telus president Darren Entwistle says in a statement he is "incredibly sorry" for the frustrations that residents have experienced trying to connect to the call centres and the company can and will do better.

"Our team has been working around the clock to scale capacity and respond to the unprecedented demand," he says.

Entwistle says Telus promised to have 156 agents answering calls at all times to schedule vaccinations and by Tuesday afternoon it will have more than 250 agents taking calls.

"We will ensure that all eligible British Columbians can book their vaccine in the time frame set out by the province."