Tuesday June 17, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC [Posted 11:28 am | Updated 11:58 am]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Do we still have universal health-care when municipalities and societies must step up for pay for things, and a waitlist offers no guarantee of having a family doctor amidst an ongoing shortage?
In today’s article: BC Health to fund 10 doctors at new clinic that City of Langford helped develop and fund; South Island Primary Care Society seeks donations.
As the doctor shortage continues in BC, some municipalities are taking initiatives of their own. [See Island Social Trends editorial how municipalities are stepping up, back from December 2024.]
In the City of Langford yesterday, Mayor Scott Goodmanson announced the city’s support for a new medical clinic to be located in downtown Langford and open sometime in 2026.
The Ministry of Health has committed to support family physicians and nurse practitoners at the new Langford clinic on Bryn Maur Road, as confirmed by the provincial government yesterday.
City of Langford Councillor Keith Yacucha says that will be 10 doctors, as he posted in social media.
There were no representatives of BC Health or Island Health at the June 16 announcement in Langford yesterday.
The new clinic operated by the South Island Primary Care Society seeks private donations.
Health ministry fail-safes:
In response to the announcement of the upcoming Langford clinic, the Ministry of Health on June 16 issued a statement to Island Social Trends (see below).
While the Ministry itemizes the Westshore UPCC (on Goldstream Avenue in Langford) and the Westshore Pacific Centre Community Health Centre (on Wale Road in Colwood), neither of those has significantly drawn down the number of people seeking a family doctor.
- The Westshore UPCC has stated for a few years that it actively dissuades patients from becoming attached (as evidenced in practice, as well).
- The Community Health Centre sees patients who are directed there for specific conditions or socially-determined barriers (i.e. not selected from the general public).
Bottleneck is often the doctors themselves:
Given that the Ministry provides the annual operating budget of $14.3 million to local Primary Care Networks (PCNs), perhaps they feel that takes care of all that they can do. But there is a bottleneck, and that appears to be the doctors themselves.
The availability of the BC Health Connect Registry (where people can sign up to be matched with a physician) is often the fail-safe response of the ministry, UPCCs and others in the health-care system.
While the Registry receives names, the attachment of those names (people) to doctors is up to individual doctors. Doctors build their own clientele at their own discretion. This may leave patients from certain geographical locations, ages, or any range of medical conditions at the mercy of matching preferences by physicians.
The Ministry notes the Western Communities PCN which current lists the region served as follows:
- Colwood
- Langford
- Highlands
- Esquimalt
- View Royal
- Metchosin
- Sooke
- Juan de Fuca Coast
Localization of care?:
It’s unclear whether the new clinic in Langford will only take patients who are Langford residents,. That is the case with the Colwood clinic that opened in 2023 — i.e. Colwood locals only.
Island Social Trends awaits a reply from the Ministry of Health on that question.
Statement by the Ministry of Health – June 16, 2025
“The Ministry of Health is committed to strengthening B.C.’s primary care system by connecting more people to primary care providers and improving coordination of primary care services with partners. This includes local Primary Care Networks (PCNs) such as the Western Communities PCN, local health authorities, Divisions of Family Practice and municipal and community leaders.”
“Through the Western Communities PCN, the Ministry has invested in primary care by:
- Opening the Westshore UPCC in 2018 and the Esquimalt UPCC in 2021, which together have delivered almost 200,000 visits for people seeking care and attached 1,180 people to primary care providers at the UPCCs.
- Funding the Westshore Pacific Centre Community Health Centre, which provides primary care for people who experience barriers to care due to the impact of inequity including people with moderate to severe mental health conditions, substance use disorders, frail seniors, those with comorbidities, diverse abilities, Indigenous and gender diverse (2SLGBTQ+).
- Implementing the provincially funded Colwood Family Practice Medical Clinic which opened in 2023. This clinic has a recruited a team of 7.5 full-time equivalent health-care workers. As of May 31, 1,464 people have been attached to a clinic provider and will ultimately attach a minimum of 5,750 people in the Westshore.
- Providing an annual operating budget of $14.3 million to the PCN.
- As well, the ministry has committed to support family physicians and nurse practitioners at the new Langford clinic on Bryn Maur Road.
“The Ministry encourages community partners to work with their local PCN and to explore existing available clinical space opportunities to direct health care dollars directly to front line care service delivery. The Ministry and its PCN partners will continue to work with the South Island Primary Care Society.”
===== RELATED:
- New medical clinic supported by the City of Langford (June 16, 2025)
- Not enough family doctors: where falls the political obligation? (December 28, 2024)
- Working hard to get a UPCC medical appointment (August 30, 2024)
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