Family Doctors

[SnowFlakey]

I dont know about the rest ofCanada, but here in Québec there is a major shortage of family doctors especially now since a lot of doctors have reached retirement age. In Québec, people who dont have a family doctor are called Orphalains (Orphans) and we have to register with the local CLSC (Government run Health Care Agency) and they eventually find you a family doctor in your area.

When my family doctor (general practitioner) retired, i had to sign papers and register with the Health Care Agency and i received a letter acknowledging that. A couple of months later i had to visit the local clinic through emergency to renew my meds. I was seen by a Young doctor who renewed my meds and while i was there i asked her if she would consider being my family doctor. I got Lucky, she called me back 2 days later and said she would take me and to come in and sign more papers for the govt and for my medical records.

Last year in December, DH`s doctor retired and he had to go through the same procedure as me. Because of his health issues, he was put on a priorty list. He received a phone call from our local clinic that the govt is assigning him a family doctor and to come in and sign the required papers. Major sigh of relief for him. We have 2 highly trained nurses at the clinic but they can only treat you if you have a family doctor. Which doesnt make any sense to me but to be it.

My friend, who registered for a family doctor the same time as me has waited 20 months until i went with her to an outpatients clinic after shoulder replacement surgery. I explained to the receptionist how long she has been waiting, etc., and lo and behold they found her a doctor but not in our town. She has to travel to the next city. But after that long wait, she is very happy.

Is the lack of general practitioners a common problem across Canada? Do you have a family doctor? Or how are you coping without one?

[Anna Michele]

I had a new office open up right around the corner from me this was during my last pregnancy I switched over immediately as my doctor at the time was nearing retirement (retired now) and they were taking new patients. Maybe I got lucky it was fairly easy to switch at the time I was seeing my obstetrician too and the new doctor didn't want to technically take me over until I had the baby. Which was fine by me. I switched over my mom and the kids and continued my carew it my o.b. until my son was born. There was no other major paperwork and he office got all our information transfered over.

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[thriftygranny]

It is horrible in Alberta, we have an abundance of walk in clinics but most of the doctors have waved their hospital privileges so if you have anything chronic or seriously wrong they are not going to be able to do hospital follow up. Finding a family doctor is next to impossible. I know my doctor is not far from retirement and I have some serious medical issues, not sure what is going to happen.

[Mia001]

i had a wonderfull old dr and when he retired....many years ago, it was already pretty hard to find another one but i was Lucky
and the one i have now isn't ready to retire....DH dr is soon to retire and he does't know if he will be able to have another one

mom was Lucky to have one when she moove last year, as she had many ''trip'' to emergency and one of the dr she saw there call me back for something , i ask him if he could take her ....he couldn't but gave me info where to ask for one....and it was pretty fast......we found a good Dr and mom was very pleased with her.....she was kind and let me know when she was to visit mom, so i could be with her.....
she even call me when mom died .....do you know many drs who do that ?

[Shwa Girl]

In Ontario, some are going to family health teams and community health centers to get health care. Some don't have a doctor but use a nurse practitioner, who is under a doctor at the family health team or community health center.

[SnowFlakey]

It makes me frustrated to know that many immigrant doctors drive taxis because their certification is not recognized here. Also its the added frustration that all doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, etc have to pass a written and spoken French test to be able to work here, even those coming from other provinces.

[Natalka]

Similar problems in SK with family doctors, I think it must be across the country.
Seems to me that two generations ago, there were so many who had family practices, and now they are retiring - some working even way beyond retirement age.

Our family doc of almost 20 years retired several years ago, so we were without one for a while. However, last year after a lot of research we were lucky to actually find a really good one, my husband has been seeing him; I haven't yet. Anything I've needed a doc for, I've just gone to a mediclinic. But I do have chronic health problems, so I will need to see him soon just so he has all my history and stuff. He's also agreed to take on our son, who is not living with us.

Seems that now, more going into medical school are wanting to specialize (more money, more prestige, fewer hours), and not generalize. It's actually very difficult to be a general practitioner.
My niece, who is a resident, had once thought she'd be a GP, but then changed her mind and she's now a resident in general surgery.

About the immigrants - yes, that's a difficult thing for sure. I know there are some changes in the pipeline that are being looked at.
One example - Around 10 years ago, we had a priest with his family move here from Austria - he was Ukrainian, she German. As he settled into being pastor, she started the requalification process for being a doctor here (she was a practicing one in Austria) - and after a while she just gave up, because it was just going nowhere, and they returned to Austria so she could go back and practice medicine. So in one fell swoop, we lost not only a very good priest, but also a doctor.

AB is obviously doing something very right, they are getting more family docs

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...gary-1.3732753

[thriftygranny]

Natalka, I agree with the hours and work a GP does compared to a specialist. It is a very tough job indeed.
Interesting and surprising article about the amount of doctors in Calgary, I had no idea it was that easy to find a family doctor there. We are a an hour and a half from Calgary and I hope ii overflows to us!! We do have a lot of doctors but like I said a lot don't have or want hospital privileges which makes it hard if you are admitted.

[Candini]

I have a family doctor (Whom I`m not happy with, but she does what she can and fills prescriptions that I need to take often or daily)

I want to switch but same thing I was told there is a wait list website you can go on and they find you a doctor with availability in their practice.

I`m in Ontario, so it could be a nation wide thing?

[SnowFlakey]

In Québec, once you are assigned a family doctor, you cant change because you dont like that doctor. You need a very good reason (moving from area, doc retiring,etc.)

[Mia001]

you're right SnowFLakey, the Dr we found for mom told us at her second visit her collègues () told her she was not supposed to take mom because mom had a Dr in another Clsc area, but she said as she already start with her she will go on with her


when a word is similar in both languages with an accent in french, my system put the accent as if it was in french

[lizzie bargain]

We are fortunate to have a competent, young family doctor here in Calgary. One of my family members is a GP working in a clinic in Ontario-she is approaching 65 but intends to continue practicing-recently reduced her clinic hours from 48 down to about 36 per week -still in my books that is pretty much full time. I have another close friend who practices as a GP in a small town in Alberta-he is past retirement age and continues to practice pretty much full-time too. I have heard him say that it can be quite difficult to recruit doctors and new grads to smaller towns-

[Natalka]

In Québec, once you are assigned a family doctor, you cant change because you dont like that doctor. You need a very good reason (moving from area, doc retiring,etc.)

Sorry, but to me that is absolutely crazy that you cannot choose your own - for any reason!

lizzie - definitely rural and small towns are the hardest to fill vacancies. Often they use locums, which isn't really good for anyone.

Sometimes towns get proactive, and offer incentives to physicians - money, house, etc.

One example -
http://leaderpost.com/news/saskatche...egy-new-clinic

Sask has an incentive program to recruit and retain docs - don't know how successful it has been, though.
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/governme...l-saskatchewan

[Mia001]

there is a site where you can find if your Dr has a good reputation i.e. comments from patients who had to deal with these drs


though it is only some personnal impressions , it might be helpfull

i know some drs deserve their bad notes but i'm surprised for some others.....as i said '' personnal impression''

[tjthemanto]

The biggest joke is you HAVE to see a GP first and get a referral or a requisition form before you can see a Specialist or do any test.

Could be just a routine blood test, but first you have to waste your time and the GP's time and make an appointment with the GP just so that you can get a form to take to the lab. Same thing for prescriptions.so it becomes 2-3 apointments just for the same thing.

my parents have a routine blood test which they have to do every 3 months. First they have to take an appointment with the GP, it takes months to get that appointment. Then the GP doesn't even look at them, just signs the lab requisition form and gives it to them. Then they have to book another appointment to refill their routine precription refill, every 3 months. The GP doesn't even look at them and gives them the prescription refill. He gets to bill the gov. Each time.