Family doctors shifting from primary to specialty care

Higher workloads and administrative demands continue to cause massive challenges for physicians in this country. And a new report from the Canadian Institute on Health Information finds that more physicians are turning away from primary care in favor of specialty care. Family doctors are increasingly providing specialty services like emergency medicine, psychiatry and general surgery. And why we why we didn’t get into sort of why we do know that sort of population needs are shifting. So they may be responding to specific needs within their area. The report finds nearly 30% of Canada’s family doctors are practicing outside of family medicine. That number grew slowly over the last 10 years, but has jumped since 2019. But in British Columbia, doctors say there is progress being made. I would say that for the very first time, our family practice doctors are actually optimistic that we’re on the right track. There’s still a lot of work to be done and we still need to get access for every patient in British Columbia who wants a family physician. But we’re seeing progress there. Believes the Longitudinal Family Physician Payment model is actually helping the primary care sector in retaining and increasing the number of family doctors, but there are still around 880,000 people in this province going without. I think it’s important for patients who are looking for family doctors to access the Ministry of Health. PAS system, but that will allow you to get on a list to see when when a family doctors practice is open. 700 more family doctors have enrolled to practice primary care in BC since the new funding model was announced last year. Andrea McPherson Global.