BC is facing a shortage of family doctors doing community-based family medicine. Outdated working conditions and poor supports mean newer to practice family physicians are not replacing those who are retiring. Mid-career physicians are leaving their practices for work with reasonable working hours and less administrative burdens.
The result is that a growing number of British Columbians are without a family doctor. More than 800, 000 people in B.C. (17.7% of people age 12 and older) are without a regular health-care provider, according to a Statistics Canada 2019 report.
Recent Media Reports
- Cowichan Valley Citizen: Island MP brings region’s chronic doctor shortage to Ottawa debate
- Times Colonist: Loss of family doctors prompts Langford petition, Oak Bay crowdsourcing site
- Vancouver is Awesome: B.C. grapples with health-care worker shortage
- CTV News: ‘Completely inhumane’: B.C. woman, premier, call for more health-care funding
- National Post: Why five million Canadians have no hope of getting a family doctor
- Chek News: A third walk-in clinic in Greater Victoria announces it’s closing its doors
- Times Colonist: Two doctors’ frustrations a sign of turmoil in health care; 3,000 of their patients displace
- Times Colonist: Comment: Health-care professionals deserve fair compensation
- CTV News Vancouver Island: Last private walk-in clinic on the West Shore to close as doctor shortage worsens
- Chek News: Roughly 3,000 patients at View Royal clinic suddenly find themselves without a family doctor
- Chek News: ‘Feels like a medical meltdown’: B.C.’s pay-for-service model is unsustainable, says doctor
- Chek News: West Shore clinic the latest victim of Island’s doctor shortage
- Times Colonist: Letters Jan. 27: Stop complaining, negotiate new MD fee structure; is private care the answer?
- Times Colonist: Letters Jan. 22: The crisis in B.C.’s health care; why do we shun foreign doctors?
- Times Colonist: Gallery: Adrian Raeside cartoon: Shortage of doctors
- Penticton Herald: Two doctors’ frustrations sign of health care turmoil, 100,000 people in capital region now without a doctor
- Victoria News: LETTER: Pandemic pulling resources from other health-care needs
- CBC: Barely a year after finally finding a family doctor, these Victoria patients have lost theirs
- Times Colonist: Province working on doctor shortage, Dix says after three clinics announce closures
- Vancouver Sun: Vaughn Palmer: NDP politicians yawn as doctors call it quits
- CBC: Why Victoria is losing so many family doctors and struggling to recruit new ones