A prescription that cannot be filled
Number of doctors needed in B.C. continues to climb as patients endure ‘disheartening’ searches
The number of vacancies for physicians in B.C. is believed to have reached a historical high with nearly 700 positions listed by Health Match B.C., the provincial agency that recruits health professionals from around the world.
And if last year’s recruitment is any indication, only about a third of the doctors will be found. Last year, it filled 234 vacancies — 192 on a permanent basis and 42 locum (temporary) positions. Of the 667 postings listed now (the number fluctuates on a daily basis), 447 are in family medicine.
Data provided by the Ministry of Health show constantly escalating vacancies for the past four years, particularly for general practitioners.
This comes as no surprise to West End resident Susan Stewart, who has been using walk-in clinics for the past six years since her doctor retired.
“Every time I ask for a referral, I’m referred to the websites,” said Stewart, 41, who is forced to wait in line to see a doctor each time at her local Care Point Medical Centre on Davie. “And after doing some research on the doctors I find there, I call the offices to ask about availability and I’m told that some of the doctors on the list aren’t taking patients.”
At the clinics, Stewart added, she sees a host of different doctors, but doesn’t “get that familiarity that you get from a regular family doctor. For some things, it’s a concern because you like to have a doctorpatient relationship with someone who knows your history instead of having to repeat it every single time to a new doctor.”
John Mabbott, executive director of Health Match B.C., acknowledges the list of vacancies is significant. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. says there were 11,574 doctors in B.C. as of February 2015.
Both Mabbott and Sarah Plank, communications director for the Ministry of Health, attributed the vacancies in community clinics and hospitals to an aging population that is creating more demand for medical services as well as the fact that younger doctors are working fewer hours as they seek more work-life balance than generations of doctors before them.
“Younger doctors are not working 70-hour work weeks,” Mabbott said.
Plank said that in the first quarter of 2016, Health Match filled 80 physician vacancies. That’s the highest number of jobs filled in a quarter in four years, she noted.
In Kamloops, the province’s eighthlargest city, not one of its 118 practising family doctors is accepting new patients.
The situation is the same in Victoria, Abbotsford, Nanaimo and Kelowna. In Burnaby, just three family doctors have space for new patients; in Richmond, that number is two.
For those desperate for a family doctor, it means possibly long waits at walk-in clinics. Stewart says her wait time “can be anywhere from one to three hours depending on the time of day.”
Ameez Allidina, who also visited the Care Point clinic Wednesday, said he hasn’t bothered looking for a family doctor because people he works with have told him it’s virtually impossible.
“The last time I had a doctor was seven or eight years ago (after a move from Ladner). It’s disheartening,” said the 37-year-old. “The lineups (at the clinic) are pretty long in general.”