91大黄鸭

It sometimes seems like there is never enough doctors, especially family physicians, to go around.

According to Health Match B.C., a provincially funded job site for healthcare professionals, there are five practices in Penticton looking for a new physician, three in Summerland and one each in Princeton, Oliver and Osoyoos.

鈥淲e鈥檙e holding our own, but we could use a few more. There are recruitment efforts happening all of the time,鈥� said Tracy St. Claire, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Division of Family Practice, which is responsible for recruitment efforts.

St. Claire said the nature of family practice is changing. Decades ago, the family doctor was in solo practice, but there is a shift to group practices. She thinks the shift might help alleviate some of the problems with people finding a primary care physician.

鈥淲hat we are seeing from those newer grads is that they are preferring to work in larger clinic practices and that seems to be the trend that is happening everywhere,鈥� she said, adding that communities around the province are looking at how family practice works

鈥淚n September, the ministry put out new policy papers in the direction of creating new care networks,鈥� said St. Claire. A team practice, she said, gives the patient access to a number of skills that go into a care team 鈥� the right provider for the right care at the right time 鈥� and also allows the team members to temporarily take up the slack, when a member is on vacation or they are looking to fill a vacant position.

鈥淲e have a number of practices in our area that have multiple doctors. Most of them do have their own group of patients,鈥� said St. Claire. That care team through a clinic can expand past physician care.

鈥淭he other thing we have done to alleviate some of the more vulnerable areas in primary care is a couple of years ago we worked with Interior Health to open the Martin Street Centre to work with mental health and substance abuse clients.鈥�

In that case, doctors work closely with social workers as part of the care team.

鈥淚 think we will see more of those co-operative efforts come forward and it will reflect on patient care,鈥� said St. Claire.

Ray Markham, executive director of the Rural Co-ordination Centre of B.C., said it鈥檚 a fact of life that some patients are having to travel long distances for a family physician.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 good. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 the way that it should be,鈥� said Markham, whose group is also working on recruitment and retention strategies.

鈥淚 think everybody recognizes that that鈥檚 something that we need to be focusing on. I know the ministry is putting a whole bunch of incentives and programs into trying to help fill that out. And that鈥檚 not just a rural thing, that鈥檚 across the whole province.鈥�

Markham says there are more doctors heading to rural communities, thanks to incentives, but it鈥檚 still an issue in smaller communities too. Primary care networks, he said, are perhaps a way to create ongoing relationships for family care, as an alternative to people having to use walk-in clinics.

鈥淎s we go through various phases and stages of our life, we have different needs for a doctor. That doesn鈥檛 mean there鈥檚 no value in being attached to a clinic or a doctor where someone knows you,鈥� said Markham.

鈥淚 would say you鈥檙e probably looking at getting kind of less optimal care if you don鈥檛 have a primary physician, and probably more costly care as well.

鈥淥therwise there鈥檚 going to be a bunch of tests that are repeated if you don鈥檛 have one person who鈥檚 following all that kind of stuff, so there鈥檚 a whole bunch of reasons why we should be pushing to get good access to good longitudinal primary care.鈥�