Trying to find a family doctor!

[saveadollardiva]

I am still keeping my head up. I am sure we will find someone me and DH both like. I still have a few more to go.

[matrix82]

Good luck. I am continuing to look and call any new offices.

[saveadollardiva]

I hear ya matrix82! We have two more appointments to go. I am hoping one out of the two will be good. I went to my family doctor today (The one I have had for years) to get a medical note and I realized how far she is now for me. I still go to her and she is great but I need a doctor much more closer to were I am now.

[matrix82]

I just called a doctor that I was on the waiting list for, and learned that they are leaving the area :S. He was my greatest hope for a doctor. The citywide waiting list is 5 years long.

[saveadollardiva]

It's hard to find a good doctor and even harder to find a good doctor accepting new patients. I was reading alot of doctors are leaving Canada and going to the USA or Europe. I guess they get paid more maybe there? I also get mad because their our doctors who come over here to open clinics and take on new patients and they are driving taxi's or doing other jobs because the government is so strict and they have to take all these tests and do more training here first.

Which is good, but at the same time it is hard because it takes longer for them than to start opening their own clinics and accepting new patients.

[Ciel]

It's the professional associations in each province/territory that regulate medicine and quite likely there is medical lobbying via the CMA to the Federal government about standards of care and training that any ambitious internationally-trained doctor would need to show as having equivalent to or better than what the associations require. Without personal wealth or someone to financially support him/her and any family as well as training/studying fees in that compliance quest, the internationally trained doctor might have to bail for more receptive lands or find immediate work outside of field in order to cover survival costs.

I still remember one such doctor who in a newspaper interview in Oakville (2-3 years ago) sought someone to support him for a year in his quest to get his qualifications while also covering his family needs. In return, he promised to open a clinic for women in the area. I don't know if he ever got that sponsorship he sought and how it turned out in the end.

[saveadollardiva]

Great news everyone! DH and I met with another doctor yesterday and he is just super! DH and I are totally going to go with him as new patients. He was great! Listened to our concerns, was funny when he needed to be, the wait time was great and he was super knowledgable and showed like he really cared. He was also very professional! So happy we found someone! And to add topping to the cake he is around the corner! So happy

[matrix82]

Congrats :D

[saveadollardiva]

Thanks Matrix82! Now let's see how he does lol.

[CDec]

Hi Everyone,

DH and I have been trying to find a new family doctor in our area and I have to say the search as been not to good. Either the doctors we want are not accepting new patients and the ones who are, are well....just not worth the time to visit! We have seen a few, either they are to hard or cocky (meaning show no emotion at all or act like their God) or they show way to much emotion (I am not your friend I am a patient and don't care about your personal life) or some take the more natural way of medicine (Which is good sometimes) But when one of them says they don't beileve in antibiotics at all you get kind of scared LOL.

I wonder if any of you are having the same issues I am? We have a few more appointments but I just don't want to go to a doctor just because they are the only one left and we have no choice...(I would rather go to a walk in clinic than the doctors I have seen)

The search goes on...

Thanks for listening!

Hi - I am writing from CTV News Channel. I am looking to find someone who is currently looking for a family doctor and the problems they are having along the way. Please send me an email at [email protected]. Thanks!

[CDec]

I've been looking since May, on a citywide waiting list that I am told is about 5 years long :S.

Hi - I am writing from CTV. I am looking to touch base with someone who is in Toronto and looking for a familly doctor. More importantly, they problems they face along the way. Please send me an email - [email protected].

Thanks!

[deethomson]

I want to switch to a new doctor but have been hesitant to look because of all the issues that have been mentioned. Had a great family doctor, he had been my doctor from the time I was born until about a year ago when he decided to move into other areas of practice. I got assigned a new doctor who I believe bought his practice and haven't been happy with her. The first time I had to book an appointment (I tried in November last year), I wasn't able to get an appointment until February. Had a book a follow up appointment after that for 6 months later, and got a call two weeks before that she had actually gone on maternity leave and had to rebook my appointment for the end of October - got a call the day before then that she had to cancel my appointment, and I haven't had time to reschedule yet. She also makes me feel very uncomfortable - the first visit was for a full physical, and she didn't ask me about quite a few things that I thought would have been pertinent to giving me a proper exam - not only that, but I actually felt like she was judging me.

[matrix82]

Sorry can't help you Caitlin, I am not in Toronto, I am in New Brunswick.

[betholio]

When I moved from Toronto to a small town in Ontario, I got on the waiting list for the local Nurse Practitioner's office. She's great. They have a team approach to things. When she was off sick, they had a doctor or another NP fill in for her.

I think if you see an opportunity to get on one of these Community Health Teams, you should jump. They are great. Not everyone needs to see an MD for every bump and scrape.

[matrix82]

The waiting list is all the same here for dr or nurse practitioner.