UBCM RESOLUTION FAMILY PHYSICIAN CRISIS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Supporting statistics and context for the family physician crisis resolution, including wait times and hospital closures.
UBCM RESOLUTION
FAMILY PHYSICIAN CRISIS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Family medicine in British Columbia is in a state of crisis with nearly one million British Columbians – one-fifth of the population – without a family doctor. Forty per cent of British Columbians who have a family doctor fear they will lose that doctor to practice closure or retirement (https://globalnews.ca/news/8755799/british-columbia-family-doctor-shortage-poll/).
BC Premier John Horgan has admitted health care in B.C. is “teetering” and in “crisis”. (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-bcs-health-care-crisis-keeps-getting-worse/) (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/primary-care-crisis-federal-funding-1.6434186)
Without a doctor of their own, senior citizens and people with chronic health concerns lack longitudinal care and people requiring prescription refills and occasional medical care are at a loss. Walk-in clinics have become overburdened and many have closed. Walk-in wait times in British Columbia are the longest in Canada with an average wait of 58 minutes. Within British Columbia, patients in the Greater Victoria area wait an average of 161 minutes before seeing a doctor (https://bcfamilydocs.ca/ongoing-media-coverage-about-the-shortage-of-family-doctors/, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-walk-in-clinic-wait-times-1.6428497 and https://www.cheknews.ca/victoria-has-longest-average-wait-times-for-walk-in-clinics-report-1015550/). Emergency rooms are overstretched with issues typically seen by general practitioners. In May, staff shortages resulted in emergency room closures in Clearwater, Port McNeill and Chetwynd.
Up-and-coming doctors are choosing more hospital-based work and specialized practice rather than family medicine — in part because they are worried about the consequences of British Columbia's fee-for-service model on their work-life balance. Practicing medicine, not running a business, is their goal. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-medical-students-family-doctor-shortage-1.6474411)
General practitioners say their administrative load on top of caring for patient’s leads to long – often 70-hour – work weeks. Many GPs are leaving private practice for the work-life balance hospital staffing can provide. With a view to recruiting and retaining more family doctors, in May 2020, the College of Family Physicians of Canada called for alternative funding models to replace the fee-for-service method in May 2020. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-doctor-shortage-1.6427395)