'Clearly there is something wrong': Vancouver Island family doctor crisis deepens as thousands lose medical care
The new year brought bad news for the mayor of View Royal, B.C., and about 4,500 other newly abandoned medical patients.
Mayor David Screech and his wife recently learned two family doctors at the Eagle Creek Medical Clinic were dissolving their practice on April 15.
This also means that the View Royal clinic, which will still host several other family doctors, will shut down its walk-in services in April.
"It's a real worry to know you just join all those who don't have a GP," said Screech.
A statement from the clinic says, "Dr. George Zabakolas and Dr. Chelsie Velikovsky have decided to stop practising longitudinal family medicine in Victoria permanently."
The clinic also said its walk-in service was barely able to handle caseloads with a full stable of doctors, and it would not be able to cope with the roughly 3,000 patients the pair of physicians will leave behind.
"Clearly there is something wrong with our system when we have two relatively young GPs leave because the system isn't working for them," Screech told CTV News.
Adding to medical woes in the capital region, the Burnside Family Medical Clinic recently sent letters to between 1,500 and 1,700 patients saying their family GP has decided to retire.
"We are trying to care for those patients as best we can in our walk-in clinic, but that too is overwhelmed and short of doctors," the clinic said in an email.
MEDICAL CRISIS
Dr. Matthew Ward is the medical director of the Eagle Creek Medical Clinic.
He says the pair of doctors are leaving for a myriad of reasons, but pay is a major factor.
"It's hard to be a family doctor in the CRD right now," said Dr. Ward. "Costs are incredibly high and there is an inadequate fee-for-service system."
A current agreement with the B.C. government pays family doctors $31.62 per appointment. That number can change due to a patient's age and medical needs, according to Ward.
He says the pay system is outdated, especially in a place like the capital region, where commercial rent, business overhead costs and the cost of living are so high.
A provincial financial statement outlining doctors' pay shows in the fiscal year ending in March 2020, the two young doctors leaving the Eagle Creek clinic raked in $421,301.09.
Dr. Ward says while it appears family doctors are still highly paid professionals in our society, the costs which come out of their take-home pay, is immense and causing the exodus.
"The lack of access to longitudinal community-based family doctors is a crisis," Dr. Ward said. "There is no other way to describe it."
According to the organization Doctors of BC, the average pay for a family physician in the province is $279,266.
The group says doctors must then use those dollars to pay staff salaries, office rent, utilities and equipment rentals and maintenance.
Doctors of BC estimates about 35 to 40 per cent of a family doctor's pay disappears before they ever see it.
CHANGE ON THE HORIZON?
Change for doctors, and potentially patients, on Vancouver Island could be on the horizon as the Doctors of BC has started a new round negotiation with the province about pay.
Last updated in 2019, the Physician Master Plan (PMA) is currently being discussed between the B.C. government and doctors.
A looming agreement could increase the per-appointment fee from $31.62, though the doctors' lobby group is also working to find other ways to attract medical experts to B.C.
For the medically abandoned, like Mayor David Screech, these negotiations will be a key point of interest as he hopes a new doctor will arrive in the region and welcome him into the exam room.
"Who knows where we'll be in 10 years if we don't stop this exodus," said Screech.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
How quietly promised law changes in the 2024 federal budget could impact your day-to-day life
The 2024 federal budget released last week includes numerous big spending promises that have garnered headlines. But, tucked into the 416-page document are also series of smaller items, such as promising to amend the law regarding infant formula and to force banks to label government rebates, that you may have missed.
Which foods have the most plastics? You may be surprised
'How much plastic will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma'am?' While that may seem like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is showing it's much too close to reality.
opinion I've been a criminal attorney for decades. Here's what I think about the case against Trump
Joey Jackson, a criminal defence attorney and a legal analyst for CNN, outlines what he thinks about the criminal case against Donald Trump in the 'hush money trial.'
$3.8M home in B.C.'s Okanagan has steel shell for extra wildfire protection
A home in B.C.'s Okanagan that features a weathering steel shell designed to provide some protection against wildfires has been listed for sale at $3.8 million.
Diver pinned under water by an alligator figured he had choice. Lose his arm or lose his life
An alligator attacked a diver on April 15 as he surfaced from his dive, nearly out of air. His tank emptied with the gator's jaws crushing the arm he put up in defence.
Psychologist becomes first person in Peru to die by euthanasia after fighting in court for years
A Peruvian psychologist who suffered from an incurable disease that weakened her muscles and had her confined to her bed for several years, died by euthanasia, her lawyer said Monday, becoming the first person in the country to obtain the right to die with medical assistance.
Mystery surrounds giant custom Canucks jerseys worn by Lions Gate Bridge statues
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
Celebrity designer sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling crocodile handbags
A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the 'Sex and the City' TV series was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her native Colombia.
Wildfire leads to evacuation order issued for northeast Alberta community
An evacuation order was issued on Monday afternoon for homes in the area of Cold Lake First Nation.