B.C. has longest walk-in doctor wait times in Canada, report finds
If you are without a family doctor in the capital region, it is no secret that accessing a walk-in clinic can be a challenge. A new report is now showing just how bad it has gotten.
Chantel lives in Langford, B.C., and has a family doctor, but when her son developed an ear infection, she couldn’t wait and had to turn to a walk-in clinic for help.
“They were actually full for the entire day,” said the mother of two.
It’s a common story heard time and time again, up and down Vancouver Island.
A report conducted by Medimap, an online walk-in clinic resource that shows estimated wait times at clinics throughout Canada, is shining a light on how bad it actually is.
“B.C., in and of itself, is the worst province across Canada,” said Thomas Jankowski, CEO of Medimap.
In this province, North Vancouver has the longest wait times with people waiting, on average, 187 minutes to see a doctor.
In second place sits Victoria, with an average wait time of 107 minutes.
“We have a supply and demand issue,” said Jankowski.
He says there are a number of reasons why our wait times are so bad – doctors retiring out of the profession, high immigration, and B.C.’s new compensation structure for physicians.
The changes "pay doctors for longitudinal support as opposed to individual appointments,” said the CEO.
The idea is that care will improve, giving doctors more time to spend with patients. While Health Minister Adrian Dix credits the pay structure with increasing the number of family doctors in B.C. by hundreds, critics say it has had an adverse effect on walk-in clinics.
“Now the doctors have shifted into this model that pays them more but are often, at times, providing up to 25 per cent less appointment slots to people,” said Jankowski.
As an example of the impact, two walk-in clinics on the Saanich Peninsula will no longer be accepting walk-ins as of March 31. Instead the clinics will focus its doctors on those patients already attached to a family physician.
Dix noted there are 708 more family doctors working in the province this year than last, plus dozens of nurse practitioners – and said B.C. has also added more Urgent and Primary Care Centres.
"There are now 30 of them," he said.
Those Urgent Primary Care Centres have also faced numerous challenges since opening their doors in 2018, include doctor shortages, overcapacity issues and their own long wait times.
Those Urgent Primary Care Centres are not reflected in Medimap’s report.
“We have no way of accessing the Urgent Primary Care Centre data in B.C. specifically,” said Jankowski.
That means we don’t know the extent of how much those Urgent Primary Care Centres are relieving the pressure on the walk-in clinics we have left.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Slovakia's populist prime minister shot in assassination attempt, shocking Europe before elections
The Slovak defence minister says doctors are fighting for the life of the country's prime minister, who was shot multiple times after a political event Wednesday afternoon.
Transport Canada's UFO 'lead' planned to meet with U.S. intel officials, called info requests a 'wild goose chase'
Canada's transportation department had a UFO 'lead' who tried to 'quell' media interest and planned to meet with U.S. intelligence officials.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver handed a cell phone ticket for using points app in McDonald's drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
'The Fly' has become notorious in France after a brazen escape. What's his criminal history?
A prisoner nicknamed “The Fly” has become notorious in France overnight after a daring and bloody escape from a prison convoy in Normandy that left two guards dead.
BREAKING Ontario's 'crypto king' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
BREAKING Barge hits a bridge in Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill
A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a smaller and separate island that is home to a university, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Person responsible for 1996 drugging of 'Titanic' crew likely not a local: Halifax police
Halifax Regional Police believe a non-resident could be responsible for the infamous drugging of numerous crew members of the 'Titanic' movie with a hallucinogenic in 1996.
Latest updates on the biggest wildfires burning in Canada
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
OPINION If you think you can’t focus for long, you’re right: Sandee LaMotte
Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology -- a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.