Wednesday April 26, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 5 pm]
By Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Presently 895,000 people in British Columbia don’t have a family doctor, says Health Minister Adrian Dix. But that presumed shortfall in medical care is about to be eased.
As of July 1 the health ministry will have the data ready to enable the lining up of doctors with fewer than 1,250 patients with people who have added their names to a roster of those seeking a family doctor as their primary care provider.
Essentially that’s a matching service for first introduction, with the doctor-patient relationship taking over from there.
Politically speaking this should break the log jam of the widespread common complaint that there aren’t enough family doctors in BC. Or more accurately, that everyone who wants a family doctor doesn’t have one.
Dix said today that not everyone at this time will want a family doctor. He cited healthy young adults as among those who might not rush to be attached to a family physician. Young adults might also be more inclined to respond to the need for episodic care (i.e. when an immediate need emerges).
As well, now that pharmacists can issue prescription medications for certain types of drugs without a doctor’s prescription is already alleviating the burden on doctors and Urgent Primary Care Clinics (UPCCs) said Dix today.
With that in mind, Dix said that seniors and families with children, as well as people with chronic conditions, are likely to be prioritized for first dibs on being connected with a family doctor for continuum of care.
About five percent of people without a family doctor at this time are seniors, said Dix. The determinant age for being a senior has not been stated at this point. Some people feel old at 50 while others remain active without issue well into their 70s or 80s.
=====RELATED:
First new medical school in western Canada in over 50 years (Nov 28, 2023)
More internationally trained doctors coming onstream in BC (Nov 27, 2022)
Protest for more doctors outside Premiers meeting in Victoria (July 13, 2022)
Doctor shortage highlighted by BC Greens in April 2022 by-election (Apr 8, 2022)
Doctor shortage highlighted by clinic closure in View Royal (Jan 18, 2022)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER & ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Mary P Brooke is the editor and publisher of Island Social Trends as published daily at islandsocialtrends.ca.
She has been covering politics, business, education and communities through a socioeconomic lens since 2008 on south Vancouver Island (previously as West Shore Voice News, and before that both Sooke Voice News and MapleLine Magazine).
Ms Brooke followed and wrote extensively about the COVID pandemic during 2020-2022, and continues to follow the topic as new developments arise. She now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Among other qualifications, Ms Brooke holds a health sciences B.Sc. (Foods & Nutrition), a university Certificate in Public Relations, and an industry certificate in digital marketing.