Temping doctors, orphaned patients: Turmoil continues in B.C. healthcare system

Patients and doctors alike are feeling the effects of a turbulent healthcare system, where clinic closures have B.C.'s physicians weighing their options as their orphaned patients plead to be seen by a shrinking number of general practitioners.

Patients and doctors alike are feeling the effects of a turbulent healthcare system, where clinic closures have B.C.'s physicians weighing their options as their orphaned patients plead to be seen by a shrinking number of general practitioners.

Several doctors have told CTV News they’re considering whether to amalgamate with large practices or leave family medicine altogether with little progress in convincing the province to compensate them for their time, while another clinic in the city of Vancouver has notified its patients that it’ll be closing before the end of the month. 

Dr. Brian Montgomery wrote to patients of Mainland Medical Clinic that his Yaletown clinic will shut down as he’s unable to find a replacement doctor and “there is a tragic shortage of GPs in our province,” which means his patients are now orphaned and joining an estimated one million British Columbians looking for a family doctor.

“Patients are crying on the phone, saying ‘I can't get in anywhere in the city,’ and we’ve got all 15 lines going,” said Aquarius Medical Clinic office manager, Natalie Krasniak, as multiple phone lines rang non-stop during our interview. “We get anywhere from very understanding patients to patients swearing at us and telling us this government sucks.”

In the brief time CTV News was at the clinic, a dozen people called or came in person looking for walk-in appointments, many having been turned away from Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs) or other walk-in clinics. Aquarius was also fully-booked. 

The clinic’s medical director said some family doctors who closed their own practices due to the cost pressures are working at Aquarius while they figure out whether to take up work at UPCCs, join private medical providers like Telus Health, or leave the province for better opportunities.

“If they want to work once a week, twice a week, for three weeks, we'll take anything, we're desperate,” said Dr. Linda Jando.