B.C. family doctors press parties for plans to address crisis ahead of election

More than 700,000 British Columbians don't have a family doctor and two physicians’ groups want to know how the province’s political parties plan to address the crisis.

BC Family Doctors and the College of Family Physicians say they expect increasing access to primary care should be a campaign issue.

“I think its going to be a huge issue,” said Maryam Zeineddin, the president of BC Family Doctors on Wednesday.

“I think if they don’t bring that up, well, then, they’ve missed the boat.”

The province's new payment model, implemented 16 months ago, has attracted more than 800 doctors to family practice. More than 200,000 patients have been connected to primary care in that same period.

“We’ve kind of stopped the bleeding, but we need to take care of the wound,” said Zeineddin.

And she notes, nearly 40 percent of family doctors in the province are set to retire or reduce their clinical hours in the next five years.

To attract and retain more GPs, the family doctors groups are pushing for reduced paperwork, as well as benefits including paid sick leave and pensions.

“You’re technically being paid by the government, you’re technically self-employed, but you have zero benefits,” said Zeineddin.

Jennifer Lush is a Saanich family doctor. She says she does between two and three hours of paperwork every day and cutting that in half would allow her to see four more patients each day.

“How much better would that be, if I could spend that time caring for patients rather than completing paperwork?” Lush asked on Wednesday.

All the major political parties say they would support cutting paperwork for family doctors, but differ fundamentally on how privatized the system should be.

John Rustad and the BC Conservatives want a hybrid public--private model.

“Change the model of health care in British Columbia – universal health care, but delivered by both government and non-government agencies,” said Rustad on Wednesday.

BC NDP Health Minister Adrian Dix says the current path is what should be followed.

“We can abandon the progress we're making and go back, or we can go forward and keep hiring more doctors and nurses,” said Dix.

Sonia Furstenau and the BC Greens favour a fully public model.

“The Conservatives want to open front door to privatized and corporatized health care, and the NDP have opened the back door,” she said.