Health Care

This is my third instalment in our journey to find a new doctor (part 1 / part 2), and I’m pleased to report we now have a new one. Yay.

The new doctor we found is in Richmond, British Columbia, quite a distance from our home, but I was impressed with this practice.

The Office

The building is in a fairly modern and lively shopping area. The outside of the practice is clean and modern. We went inside and it was pristine clean, nice wooden floors, and clean uncluttered walls. There were two receptionists who divided their duties, one was the meet and greet, the other focusing on phone calls. At the time of our appointment we were taken to a completely spotless examination room, all the equipment looked brand new.

The Doctor

He is young and active on Twitter proactively tweeting on sports medicine, that impressed me, that he is passionate about what he does. He is lively, interested and compassionate. A gay couple didn’t phase him. He also did some homework prior to seeing us. I will feel comfortable with this doctor, I am so grateful we found him.

Lucky Find

The lucky part of finding this doctor is that they just stopped taking on new patients, we got to them on time. If we had been another day late we would be back to the drawing board. I feel bad for the many others who haven’t found anyone.

This ends my new doctor journey, all’s well that ends well.

In part one I discussed some of the issues facing people in British Columbia when trying to find a new doctor. Now I am going to discuss my first attempt at signing on with a local doctor in Newton, BC.

About

A couple of neighbours recommended a doctor they had just signed up with and it’s only a quick walk away. Receiving a recommendation and for someone locally lifted up my spirits so we thought we would give it a go.

Initial Phone Call

We called the doctors office and the receptionist didn’t sound very happy at all. However, we did receive confirmation that a new doctor there was taking on new patients. She said we would need to come in to register then have an appointment to see if the doctor is “willing to take us on”. I asked myself, what is the acceptance criteria for being taken on by a doctor? It seems a little odd.

Visiting the Doctors Office

We got to the office and the outside looked very run down and dirty, well, I thought maybe its different inside…it wasn’t.

The reception area was drab, colours looked depressing, the carpet was dirty, the walls very much in need of a paint job as everything looked scuffed and run down. Not only that, it looked as though the photocopier had puked up over the walls with a ton of “don’t do this” messages, it was scary. In other words, it was a very depressing environment. This is completely opposite to our current doctors practice which is super clean, bright colours, a television, newspapers and magazines to read, cuddly toys for children and super comfy chairs.

We presented ourselves to the receptionist and she was gruff, rude, and unprofessional. She obviously took an instant dislike to us, maybe she wasn’t used to cheerful people, she told us to sit down. I’m not sure what was supposed to be going on, was she supposed to be handing us some paperwork to complete to register us with? After waiting around for 25 minutes she finally called us back just to take our health card numbers, to register us with, and registration was complete, it took about 2 minutes. I’m not sure why we had to wait for 25 minutes for just that to happen, maybe it was her way of putting people she didn’t like in their place.

Part of the workflow for registering a patient is to book an appointment to see the doctor, the receptionist never offered that. So, I had to ask for one, she appeared pretty put out about that but did book us in.

I initially thought that maybe the receptionist just doesn’t like gay people, but evidently she treats everyone in the same unprofessional manner.

While we were waiting I overheard a doctor become frustrated with the receptionist for losing a patients paperwork.

The Next Day

I thought about it over night and read reviews about the practice. They were pretty much the same as I had experienced; rude and unprofessional receptionist plus some other horrific problems with the doctors there I won’t go into here. I didn’t really want to be treated like that again so I phoned them up, cancelled the appointment and told them to un-register me. At the time of the call she cut me off mid-sentence to put me on hold, I heard her mobile phone go off in the background.

I was so upset about how we were treated I wrote a “private and confidential” letter to the doctor. I suspect the receptionist will intercept it and dispose of it, and even if the doctor does get it I can’t imagine that they would reply.

Summary

When I think about patients vising doctors, especially those who are vulnerable, maybe suffering from chronic conditions, even mental health issues, the last thing that should happen is being presented by rude and unprofessional health care staff. Doctors and their staff should present a safe and welcoming environment for people seeking help, definitely not face what we experienced. We can find a better doctor’s practice than this.

Health care facilities are facing huge demands and pressure at the moment but I still think it doesn’t take much to retain a professional demeanor, which this doctors practice lacked.

Onto the next one!

Since our current doctor here in British Columbia is retiring it’s time to hunt for a new one, this is proving to be extremely challenging.  I am going to record that journey on my blog.

The Current Situation

Like most places, there is a shortage of doctors in Canada. There are 1 million people without a doctor in British Columbia, and with a population of just over 5 million that equates to around 20%, that is a vast number. I’m confused about what politicians are doing to address this issue, maybe not a lot.

People I know are facing harsh consequences in this situation but also as a result of unprofessional health care providers. These are some small quotes on what I heard:

• “My neighbour is disabled and needs a doctor’s sign-off on medication that is keeping her alive, however, without a doctor, this is an ongoing nightmare”
• “I had no choice but to go with my current doctor but he only works half a day a week so it’s impossible to get an appointment with him.”
• “I book an appointment with my doctor and wait around for 1 hour and 30 minutes but he never turns up as he decides it’s not worth coming in.”
• “My doctor is 28km away, the nearest one I could find, and I can’t drive that far anymore due to my age.”
• “I have to go to a walk-in clinic for my medical needs but they only allow me 10 minutes for a consultation for 1 issue only. It’s impossible to get an annual check-up in that amount of time.”

Finding a Doctor

The system of finding a doctor is also broken. For example, in the UK there is one central place to look for doctors that are taking on new patients, it’s very easy and centralized. So in BC:

• There are multiple websites to find a doctor. None of them seems up to date. There is no consistency across the province.
• There is a mix of dodgy websites that aren’t even run by an official entity, one I found even asking for a subscription, with people posting tips about doctors that are available. In Google, these sites are even ranked higher than official government entities.
• The BC College of Family Physicians suggests a few methods. One is the Pathways Medical Care Directory but the information on there is not up to date and as I’ve found missing huge chunks of information are missing. Another is the local Division of Family Practice but when going on their mailing list you never hear of new doctor alerts just irrelevant information.
• Medimap is another route in which I have found one lead, but that practice is many kilometres away.
• Asking family or friends is another route, to join a practice as a patient, but no one wants to divulge who their doctor is these days. They assume they will become too busy to get to see themselves.
• Other people have found that visiting a walk-in clinic 4 times, and the issues can be made up, means the doctors there are legally obliged to take you on. Sounds like a very dodgy route and not sure if this one is even true. I would have thought this is not the best way to find a doctor.

Summary

One thing we learnt before your current doctor goes it’s worth asking if they will retain their license, as long as they do the prescriptions they supply can be authorised by pharmacies. So, just prior to them leaving it might be worth asking for an extended prescription.  At least that will provide some comfort room if you can’t find a doctor immediately.

So, soon I will discuss my first experience in trying to sign up with a doctor, it was a most unpleasant experience.