Monday, June 23, 2008

Doctor, Doctor give us the news, we’ve got a bad case of needing you….


"We're short and that means a considerable amount of folks are using the emergency room as a clinic, which is not necessarily appropriate, but hey, what other options are there at this point "-- Tony Briglio, North West Regional Hospital District chair, outlining the measures that some Prince Rupert residents are taking in seeking out health care.

Prince Rupert’s doctor shortage has apparently gone far beyond the tipping point for many local residents as reports of two and sometime three week waits to see a local doctor are starting to wear on locals.

With most existing practices not accepting new patients at the moment, the crush will now come at the doors of the emergency ward of Prince Rupert Regional Hospital, which will be left to deal with the fallout of a decline in the number of practicing physicians in the city.

It’s an issue which is particularly troublesome for those patients that once had a regular physician and need regular appointments due to medication or long term health concerns, while local offices continue to seek out new doctors for local clinics the task has proven to be more than a little frustrating.

While Northern Health is reportedly busy trying to approach possible replacements, the competition is tough across the province and the country for that matter for would be local physicians.
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That competition, combined with a large number of doctors who prefer to specialize as opposed to becoming GP’s and you have the makings of major problem that the province needs to adequately address and quickly.

As the local message board hackingthemainframe discovered last week, the situation has become a little more worrisome locally, as the Green Clinic recently advised patients that they are having problems taking care of all current files in their office. Rumours persist that the clinic is set to close at the end of July, if so that would be a move that will leave a large number of local residents scrambling for a new place to have those files kept on hand and their health concerns taken care of.

The Daily News featured a front page story in Monday’s paper which highlights the health care concerns, which seems to rapidly be approaching a local crisis situation.

PATIENTS SCRAMBLE FOR CARE AS DOCTOR SHORTAGE LOOMS
Wait time for doctor visit prompting some to seek appointment at hospital instead
BY CARLA WINTERSGILL
The Daily News
Monday, June 23, 2008
Pages one and five

The message to patients outside the Green Clinic sums up Prince Rupert's problem concisely.
"Unfortunately," the sign reads, "We have come to realize that taking care of everybody is beyond our reach."

The Green Clinic's long-time doctor, Harris Coburn, is ill himself and has been forced to leave his practice, leaving the clinic short of help.

"At the time being, we're having some issues," said Antonio Briglio, city councilor. "As most of Prince Rupert knows, our beloved Dr. Coburn is ill. He's chosen not to go back to the clinic and he's left it with the doctors there. They have been doing their best but I believe a couple of them left town."

The Daily News has received several calls from frustrated residents who are unable to get immediate medical attention at various practices.

This is not a problem reserved exclusively to the Green Clinic, but it is troublesome for those who depend on regular doctor's appointments to regulate medication. The wait time for an appointment at the Green Clinic, for example, is now two weeks.

"We're about 2.5 physicians short," said Francis Osei-Tutu, Northwest medical director with Northern Health.

"We're in an active recruiting process. There are at least two physicians interested that we're trying to pursue. How soon we'll get them is hard to tell."

Osei-Tutu points out that the recruitment is not necessarily for the Green Clinic specifically, but for the community as a whole.

"We've been pretty lucky in Prince Rupert over the years because we've had pretty good stability in the amount of doctors we've enjoyed here as general practitioners," said Briglio. "But having said that, it now looks like we're in that realm that is not uncommon to other communities, which is a shortage of doctors."

According to the most recent report by StatsCan, over four million Canadians don't have a family doctor. Nearly 25 per cent of those without family doctors living in rural areas go to the emergency room for their medical issues.

Prince Rupert seems to be following this trend.

"We're short and that means a considerable amount of folks are using the emergency room as a clinic, which is not necessarily appropriate, but hey, what other options are there at this point?" said Briglio. "Northern Health has tried to the best of their ability to recruit extra doctors to our community in response to our need."

Increasingly, rural areas have turned to offering extra perks to doctors in hopes of luring them to the community. Small towns have been known to offer houses, vacations and extravagant pay.
"We do have incentives," said Osei-Tutu. "Through the B.C. physicians program we have an incentive for covering moving expenses and traveling expenses. There is also a retention premium."

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