Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Two doctors groups in British Columbia say there is a “wait-list crisis” for specialists that is severely compromising the health and well-being of residents ... nearly 1,000 specialists  found that about 1.2 million patients are waiting too long to see a health expert in areas such as cardiology, neurology, orthopedic surgery, and urology ... survey respondents say their wait-lists have grown longer in the last two years, placing additional strain on practitioners and their patients ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The NDP’s efforts to improve health care through a new payment model for family physicians and the establishment of urgent and primary care centres has had the unintended consequence of cutting the ranks of walk-in clinics across the province. According to the medical mapping service MediMap, the number of walk-in clinics across B.C. has dropped between 30 to 50 per cent in recent years as clinics move to an appointment-only model or close their doors ... CLICK HERE for the full story

. . . . Along with last year’s overhaul of the physician payment model and the expansion of scope of practice for pharmacists, the unprecedented (in this country) move to create patient ratios ranks as one of the biggest changes in the public health care system in decades. The question now is: will the impact of these two historic measures be significant enough to ease pressure on the health care system, or will they merely ensure a somewhat chaotic status quo is maintained? The health care system is under siege in much of the province because of three main factors: record population growth, a rapidly aging population and ongoing challenges stemming from shortages of health care workers . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

. . . . "Medical care doesn't even account for a quarter of what makes us healthy ... our health begins where we're born, grow, live, work and age," said Kershaw, who is also the founder of non-profit Generation Squeeze. "And that means when we can't access affordable and safe homes, when we can't access quality child care ... those are the things that are going to make us get injured or fall sick and have us needing more time in our clinics and our emergency rooms" . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

Dozens of foreign-trained doctors are now working under special licenses requiring supervision in B.C. hospitals, while more are being recruited for deployment as family doctors in urgent care centres, CTV News has learned. Health Minister Adrian Dix confirmed that the province has employed “associate physicians(opens in a new tab)” in acute care, with 120 more positions posted in an effort to get an estimated 400 internationally-educated doctors into B.C.’s health-care system. “Working in team-based centres, sponsored by health authorities and overseen by the college -- that we would not waste the talent of all these people and their extended training, but use it to add to and support the healthcare system,” he said in a one-on-one interview. Dix emphasized that only those with degrees and at least one or two years of hands-on training are eligible, and that they’ll be working in a highly-regulated sector under the supervision of fully-licenced doctors ... CLICK HERE for the full sto...