DOCTOR SHORTAGE

Political giant picks a fight

He was premier of Newfoundland from 1979-89. But now, as a B.C. resident, Brian Peckford is still game for a political fight.

Today he’s taking on Victoria, saying the province needs to do more to end the shortage of family doctors.

After he retired from politics, Peckford moved to B.C. in 1993.

He’s lived in Nanaimo, Qualicum Beach and now Parksville. And in each community, the shortage of primary care physicians has been getting worse.

Island Health Region surveys show that about 16 per cent of the 50,000 residents of the Oceanside Local Health Area (Parksville and Qualicum Beach) don’t have a family doctor. That’s better than the average in B.C., where about 24 per cent of residents don’t have a regular family doctor.

But the Oceanside area has a surging population of seniors who often have chronic diseases that need continuous medical care.

Peckford’s own doctor, Dr. Hendrik Putter, closed his office a week ago. Ever since he told his 2,000 patients to look for a new doctor, Peckford has been doing just that, to no avail.

To Peckford’s astonishment, Putter arranged for his patients to attend a clinic 74 kilometres away. That’s an illogical proposition, Peckford maintains, since many seniors don’t drive and there’s no public transit to the clinic in Courtenay, an hour away. Peckford has also failed to find a doctor willing to take new patients in Nanaimo.

There are about 20 general physicians working in Qualicum and Parksville, but none are taking new patients. Peckford has put his name on waiting lists.

Local news reports in the Qualicum area suggest a lack of modern, spacious office space suitable for medical clinics is a major deterrent in attracting new doctors.

“This is the first time in my 77 years that I’ve been without a family doctor,” Peckford said.

“If I was the premier or the health minister, I’d be coming up with a better battle plan,” he said, noting the Commonwealth Fund has drawn attention to the long waiting times in Canada to see specialists, and other studies have also shown Canada’s lower number of doctors compared to other wealthy nations.

In a recent letter to the new federal health minister, Patty Hajdu, Peckford says Ottawa transfers billions in health-care payments to the province and he asks if B.C. is meeting its obligations under the Canada Health Act. The act requires provinces to monitor whether they’re meeting the conditions for such federal payments, including access to medical care.

“It seems to me that, at the very least, the reasonable accessibility provisions of the Act are being violated as highlighted in my own personal experience on Vancouver Island,” Peckford said in his letter.

“I am only taking this step after I had written the provincial health minister (Adrian Dix) and received an unsatisfactory answer, not from the minister himself but from an employee completely ignoring the main purpose of my letter,” Peckford said, referring to a letter from Thomas Guerrero, ministry executive director of patient and client relations.

Guerrero said Island Health has been trying to recruit a family doctor to Qualicum Beach. He also drew attention to a program designed to recruit and retain physicians. He acknowledged that long-term solutions won’t be “of much assistance in addressing your immediate concerns.”

The shortage of family doctors is a major problem across B.C.

Health Match B.C., the branch of the Health Employers Association of B.C. that helps recruit physicians from other jurisdictions, has postings for about 900 jobs, believed to be a record high. Of the 900 vacancies, 567 are for family doctors.

A study by B.C. researchers in 2017 showed that the doctor shortage will soon get far worse because 40 per cent of B.C. doctors are at, or near, the age of retirement.

There are 12,960 physicians practicing medicine in B.C. Some 6,616 are family doctors while the rest are specialists, according to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.

The college used to post a list of doctors taking new patients but stopped last year. It now refers individuals to HealthLink B.C., accessible by dialing 811.

The ministry did not comment on Peckford’s demands, but sent a statement from Dix citing spending on new hospitals, more surgeries and on forming primary healthcare teams, through primary and urgent care centres.

The government also intends to spend more money on additional doctors, nurses and pharmacists.